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Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



N^ARRATIVE 



Cf A 



PRIVATE SOLDIER 



IN THE 



Volunteer Army of the United States, 

DlRING A PORTION OF THE rEKIOIl COVEKEU BY THE GkEAT W A R 
OF I HE ReUEI.LION OF 1861. 

BY 

Charlies Lewis Francis, 
1 

(Private Company B, Ei-hty-Ei^'hth lUiiaois VoIunteei«J>^,.^^^ 

v. ,>^^ 1879. o^ 
William Jknkins and (. oMpkrfvf^WAe'-**.^^^^ 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

1879. 






Entered according to Act of Congress with tlie Librarian of 
Congress, in the year 1879, by Charles Lewis Francis. 



PREFACE. 



In writing the following narrative of my 
^experiences during the troal)loas period em- 
bracing the year's 1861 to 18G4 I disclaim any 
intention of setting myself up as a historian; 

The sphere in which I moved was not at any- 
time so elevated as to enable me to form views 
of men and things of so extended a character 
as that they Could have any general bearing or 
interest* It is extremely seldom that a person 
in the ranks of an army or in the mass of a 
political machine becomes acquainted with the 
springs of a movement until its object has been 
accomplished or defeated. As for the army 
moveinents by Geographical Divisions, mo- 
mentuous crises in Congress, the probable 
effect of defeat in the field upon the finances 
of the country, and the like, we never discussed 
nor, for my part, thonght of them. vSo that 
if an}" one chance in the future to pick up this 



IV 



book in anticipation of receiving any valuable 
or important information from it having any 
bearing on either of these great questions he 
may in all probability be disappointed. That 
tlie regular historian will have to deal with 
those matters I have no doubt. In my nar- 
rative it Avill be found that I seldom travel very 
far beyond my actual and personal experience, 
it is my object to keep within the line strictly, 
and if now, after having made my disclaimer, 
I am asked for my object in writing the book 
at all, I will be compelled to admit that I can 
give none that is to my mind a useful or prac- 
tical one. It may, indeed, turn out that my 
slorv will partially corroborate some one who 
may hereafter venture an extended opinon as 
to the general character of the experiences of 
the private soldiers in our Civil War; it may 
be of some interest to the children of those who 
took part in the struggle, in showing the facts 
as they were, stripped of the inevitable romance 
with which such narratives have been clothed 
by writers who have shown a lack of power to 
resist the temptation. Whether or no, one 
thing occurs to me, and that is this, if my ac- 



count is preserved until he is grown, my son 
will not be confined to mere tradition for his 
information, as is the fact with the children of 
so many soldiers of former wars, and as will 
no doubt be the case with those of many of 
my comrades as well. 

CHARLES LEWIS FRANCIS 



CONTENTa 



CHAPTEK I. 

Kiots in Baltimore, Supprcs^sion of the 
Riots. After the Battle of Bull Bun. Battle 
of Ball's Bluff. First California Regiment. 
Pennsylvania Buck-Tails. Frederick Cit}^ 
Maryland. On to Winchester. Night before 
the Battle. The Battle of Winchester. After 
the Battle. On a Transport. Monitof and 
Merrimac, In the Shenandoah Valley ugain. 

CHAPTER II. 

Going to the West. On the Prairies, 
^'30(),o6o More \ Mustered In. Off for the 
Seat of War. In Cincinnati. In Louisville^ 
Kentucky. Marching after Bragg.- At 
Bardstown, Ky. Battle of Perryville. After 
the Battle, The Emancipation ProcUimation, 
At Crab Orchard, Ky. 



VII 

CHAPTER III. 

Personnel of the Eighty-Eighth. Incorri- 
gible Tommy Corrigan. "Gol)bling\ Salut- 
ini»' Danville, Kv. Fordin^- Green Kiver. 



fe 



A Grand Foray. Gathering Plunder. 
Through Nashville to Mill Creek. Another 
of CorriganV Tricks. The Colonels Filthy 
Harano-ue. The 3()th Illinois on its Mettle. 
General Sill our Brigadier. 

CLiAPTER IV. 

Forward to Murfreesboro'. A good Omen. 
Legalized "Gobl)ling\ A Specimen Rebel. 
Into a Cedar Forest. The Colonel Makes a 
Speech. Going into Battle. Advancing on the 
Enemy.' Death of Abe Weaver. Night be- 
fore the Battle. The Battle of Murfreesboro\ 
An Unpleasant Predicament. A Prisoner of 
War. 

CHAPTER V. 

A Dismal Change. At Tullahoma. In 
Chattanooga. In Atlanta, Georgia. At West 
Point, Georgia. At Montgomery, Alabama. 



YIII 

A Disappointment. The Women of East 
Temiessee. In Bristol, Virginia. In L^'ncll- 
burg, Va. Libby Prison in the Prospect. In 
Libby at Last. A Prison Incident. Released 
from Captivity. In Camp Parole, Annaj)olis, 
The "IlichmonclJeffersonian'\le3troyed. At 
Benton Barracks, Missouri. 

CHAPTER VI, 

Post Bugler, Post Headquarters. Bathing 
in the Mississippi. The Invalid Corps. Our 
Mess. Minnesota Troops. Guard-mounting. 
Off on a Furlough. Missouri '^M. S. MV'' 
and "K M. M^s", Small Pox. A Sad Story. 
More about Missouri Troops. A Field Offi- 
cer's Court Martial. A General Court Mar- 
tial. O'Brien's Case. The Western Cavalry 
Bureau. A Spree. The Calithum plans. Drum- 
med out of Service. Organization of Colored 
Troops. Discharged. 



CHAPTER I. 

FROM THE orTnK'KAK OF THE W'A K UNTIL ABOUT 
JUNE, 18G-2. .VXD WHILE, ALTHOUGH I WAS NOT 
YET A SOLDI EK, I WAS MUCH WITH THE ARMY, 
AND IX THE FIELD. 

1. When the war broke out, sny in the niontli of 
April, 1861, I was residing witli mv uncle in Balti- 
more and Wash i no-ton ; tliat is to say, business was 
done in tlie former city, wliile the residence was at the 
capital. On the l'.)th of tliat month occurred the 
bloody riot in l>altimore, durins;- which six or seven 
men of the Sixth Regiment of Massacliusetts Infantry 
were killed or wounded. Tlie next two days (Satnr- 
day and Sunday) were days of terror. Xo one knew 
wliat Avas to come next. Regiments were hastily 
formed out of Avorkmen from the various shops. 
^'Ross Winan Guards" was the name of a battalion 
formed by the enlistment of men in the employ of the 
great inventor. That, and other regiments and com- 
panies paraded the streets in hastily manufactured 
uniforms of various colors and materials, and armed 
with a great variety of weapons. 



8 NAllKATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDI El{. 

On Friday night a coinpiiiiy of tlie 6tli Maryland 
State Guard proceeded to the President street depot, 
and after compelling the men of an unarmed regiiiient 
(the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania, Colonel Stone) to re- 
trace their steps to Philadelpliia, the soldiers of the 
Sixth Maryland Guard, accompanied I)y a large 'out 
well organized mob, proceeded to the Gunpowder 
river, where they set tire to and desti-oyed a railroad 
bridge, and I believe they also at the same time scut- 
tled and sunk the great railroad ferry-ljoat "Mary- 
land," on the Susquehanna river at Ilavre-de-^race. v) 
Besides this, all communication bv telegrai)h between 
the city and the outside world was cut off, exce])ting 
a line to Harper's Ferry, but that wire was ke})t open 
solely in the interest of those whose sympathies were 
against the Federal Government and in favor of the 
Southern people. Saturday the city was altogetlier 
ill the hands of the mob. Stores, especially such as 
contained arms and tliose holding provisions, were 
broken open and ruthlessly rifled of their contents. 
All kinds and descriptions were seized in the general 
levy. It was not unusual to meet a band of rag-a 
muffins armed with single and double-barrelled shot- 
guns, rifles, long and short, and a variety of swords, 
sabres, and cutlasses all in one company. Few per- 
sons slept that night. Owners of houses, stocks of 
goods, jewellers, bankers, and all Avere alike in great 
fear for the safety of the valuables they were possessed 
of or had under their control. Sunday morning 
broke into a beautiful spring day. The sun shone 
wai*m and genial. Still there was no abatement of the 
excitement. The church bells rang incessantly, but 



not for tlio purpose of ca]!';!);; wors'iippcrs. All 
stated Divine services wi'rc su^peiiiU'd. ;iiul the wild 
c'langiiiii- of the bolls were hut sign:ds for all persons 
capable of beariji^- arms to assemble at the various 
places of rendezvous, and t!n>rc be ^wovu in and armed 
as citizen soldiery. One Kane — he was styled " Mar- 
slial Kane" — seemed to me to be in the chief control, 
and, when I v\'ent to tlie police station, or otlier pub- 
lic Iniildinir on Holiday streei, I think, he was active- 
ly eno-aged in superintending tlie mustering of men 
and the issuing of arms to tliem afterward. All I'le 
forenoon the city was rife with runH)rs, ••'i'ro<ips 
from the hated North were at Cockeysville/'' a town 
on the Central Eailroad ; '• Eegnlars were advancing 
from Carlisle"; ''The Yankees of the city were se- 
cretly congregating among the hills auxd valleys of 
Druid Hill Park," near the town, and all sorts of 
such exciting rumors Avere mouthed around by one 
crowd to another. About noon more soldiers came. 
These were from the adjacent counties and composed 
of the ancient militia, rejuvenated in flesh, but not at 
all in make-up or appearance. They were, each com- 
])any, dressed in different costumes, but all held close 
on to the original continental style, and I wonld not 
demand much for venturing the assertion that many 
of the uniforms worn had been preserved from that 
period. It was said that the Governor had secreted 
his person, and therein he acted the part of prudence 
if he Avas in the city at all. One croAvd Avere very de- 
sirons of hanging him for a "Union man" ; another 
wanted him to issue a proclamation calling the militia 
into active service to " protect the soil of Maryland 



10 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

from the Xortherii invader," while still another mot- 
ley gang, composed of the "Anne Arnndel Militia," 
went to the Fonntain Hotel, where the State Execu- 
tive was supposed to be in hiding, and there clamored 
Avith drunken vehemence for authority to go and de- 
mand the evacuation 1)y the United States forces of 
the neighboring Fort McIIenry. TsFot succeeding in 
getting any such authority, the gallant troo})ers i)ro- 
ceeded to the Eutaw House, nnd fi'om thence, having 
first got more gloriously drunk, they went on their 
self-imposed mission without a mandate. The expe- 
dition ended in a disgraceful retreat or a ludicrous 
farce — I do not know how to properly designate it. I 
saw the best of it, and have attem2)ted to describe it 
in another place. 

2. On Monday the city was calm. The hot blood 
had run itself down. Orders had been sent to (he 
North from Washington, the country at large had got 
over the first scare, and in a day or two after, an Ohio 
regiment of infantry and some regular troops entered 
the city, partially in secret, but with loaded cannons 
and muskets and fixed bayonets — indeed, in full fight- 
ing trim. They marched down from the Central 
Railroad depot to the Washington depot on Camden 
street. It was an impressive sight. Dread determi- 
nation was on each and every man's face. There 
were closed ranks and generally true soldierly bearing 
and carriage. Every eye was fixed. Not a smiling 
countenance nor an answering cheer from the popu- 
lace greeted them, and no handkerchiefs of f[iir ladies 
waved in welcome. The crowds on the sidcAvalks were 
dense, and kept a sullen silence. The silence was al- 



SUPPKKS.SIOX OF Tin: ][lOi>. 11 

most 2''iiinful. I rc'nieiii')i'r [!i;ii 1 Ixjiird (lie oiiiiiious, 
lieav}^ reo-iilar tread of tho soidiei's as tlu^v uiarclicd 
to the (letiaiit rollin:^- of the di'uiiis. Tliei'e was no 
music save that, and, if it may Ije so called, an occa- 
sional dramatic Idasfc of the bugle as chan-xes in the 
direction of the column were announce(L Then in- 
deed the people began to Ijreathe freer. The city liad 
been controlled, troops I/j((l sa.fely passed through, and 
the '^secessionists " and th.eir allies, the mob, had 
alike been awed into submission. The first regiment 
of loyal t]"oops that I saw venture on the bloody route 
of the Sixth Massachusetts was, I think, from Vermont 
or Maine. They were uniformly tall, luU-bearded, 
liealthy looking men, and a jauntily attired vivandiere 
was with them. They did not ride in the cars from 
the President street depot to the Camden depot, as 
the gallant Sixth attempted, but, having formed near 
the depot, with londc^d muskets and fixed bayonets, 
they wisely marched along Pratt street through the 
great crowds to the cjirs. Soon after that Xew York 
cit}' sent S(nne regiments, composed in part of what 
were then called roughs. They were firemen and of 
that class. It was expected by the Southerners that 
these troo})s would fraternize with them, but they did 
not, and that was the last of Baltimore's prospects of 
ruin. She settled down to terrible hard times and the 
mortification of seeing United States engineers survey- 
ing old Federal Hill, as a preliminary to the erection 
of a strong fort right in the city itself. 

3. Early in May I left Baltimore entirely, and re- 
mained in Washington [ind its neighborhood. Until 
July ni}^ time was divided between visiting camps and 



12 NAUKATIVE OF A I'i;iVAIE SOLDlEIt. 

forts, attoiKiiug- the sessions of Cojigress, and gcn- 
eraUj, in taking in the events occurring around and 
jibout me. The ijattle of I^ull Ivun was fouglit. and I 
witnessed the wonderful extremes. A few days before, 
and I saw the line h)oking troops from the Xorth ; tliey 
were well fed, well dressed, full of fight, and they 
moved from the various camps in tlie city, ovei' the 
Long Bridge and on to Arlington Ileiglits, in tirrie 
with the music of many gorgeously uniforined and 
well appointed bands. Vvith virgin ])anners Hying. 
and speeches from the President and tlie emineid 
Senators and Representatives from their several States, 
the various regiments and brigades marclied gayly 
on to finish tlie war in sixty days I I saw th,c retreat, 
and when the troops tiled into tlie city I mingled my 
feelings with those who feared that the existence of 
the nation was in its greatest peril. To render it 
worse, that direful day was dark and gloomy, and it 
rained in torrents. The returning soldiers were dirty, 
and begrimed with the historic clay of Virginia; 
some were shoeless, many hatless — all minus some- 
thing, and but very few with any but drooping ;ind 
dejected spirits. All was hurry-scurry, and to all 
appearances without any definite aim other than that 
of arriving at comfortable camping grounds. Then 
we were afraid that the rebels would follow up their 
victory and enter Washington. It was said by many 
that the Government were wholly i)repared to ilee, 
that the President had gone, and it was fully a week 
before the people were reassured of their immediate 
safety. The best conditioned of our troops had been 
left on the southern side of the Potomac, but what 



AFTEH Tilt; i;at'ii.]': ov UHA. Ills. lo 

did wo know of that ? in'-idrs, our Pi-(,.vo8t ^^lai'sliaTs 
office had not yot been eonipletv'Iv o!-_u-anizevl, our spies 
were not so dili^^'ent or uiiinerous as those on tlie otlier 
side, and t1ie city ontaini';! within its limits a, vast 
number of tliose wlio thon^ii'lit the enemy woubl very 
soon Ije jit our (b)ors. ami with wiiom a wisli was fatlier 
to the thon^-lit. However, tlie feelinu- of despair in 
time ii'ave way to that of ho[)e and conndencc, General 
McDowell was superseded, and by and by General 
McClellan, the "great soldier/' tbe ''young Napoleon," 
the "savior of his eountiw." took command of our 
armies. Troops poured into the city by thousands, 
daily and hourly ; fortifications rose as if by magic, 
and upon all tlie hills around the city Avere bristling- 
cannon, while at the feet of those hills and all around 
them Avas a vast cainp of armed men. From the 
Insane Asylum be von d the eastern branch of the 
Potomac river to Tennalytown on the Ivockvillc Pike 
road, and ai-onnd in a circle, wei'C camps of infantry, 
cavalry, and t)atteries of artillery. 

4. After General ^dcGlellan assumed command, and 
had reorganized the army, tliere was a grand review of 
the troops held at Ball's Cross Roads. In order to get 
there we first had to procure a formidable pass from 
the Headquarters of the Army, and this pass was 
made no less formidable by the oath attached to it 
than by the terrible looking signature placed at the 
bottom. It was that of "Drake De Kay," who was 
an aide-de-camp at headquarters. I am sorry I have 
lost that j)ass, because it would now be a real curiosity, 
and I would have liked very much to have been able 
to give a copy of it in this place. However, armed 



14 NAEliATlVE OF A PllIVATE SOLDIEK. 

with this formidable pass, I went with tlie rest of tlic 
sightseers, crossed the river at Oeorgetown, thence to 
Munson's Hill in Virginia, where our people had a 
signal station communicating with anotlier situated on 
the top of the dome of the C;i[)it()l. From there we 
went to Ball's Cross lloads, but I saw no Ball's or 
other notable crossroads. I simply saw from a favorable 
position immense masses of troops of all arms : long 
lines of infantry, now in echelon, now in masses, and 
again formed into line of battle extending for miles, 
and at times two or tliree lines deep. S<{a;idrons and 
regiments of cavalry gallo})ed through oiH'uings in 
the woods, crossed tlie depi-essions, and (piii-klv 
disappeared in other openings in the forests; then 
whole parks of artillery daslied into the tields, and in 
and out and through tlie woods, meanwhile performing 
the most intricate and mysterious of manoeuvres. 
One time I thought that the hill v^^e were standing 
upon was to be carried by stoi-m, but a division of 
New York troopers flanked us and passed on. It was 
an awfully grand sight, and fascinated me. I could 
not help fixing my gaze u})on the scene before and on 
both sides of me. There was everything of real battle 
except smoke, noise, and suffering. The generals and 
their staff officers were gayly dressed, and the liorses 
they rode reared and pranced as if they were conscious 
of the fact that the eyes of the civilized world were 
upon them, and that the great majority of men 
trusted and expected that their riders would be carried 
upon their backs to victory and triumi)h. It was a 
beautiful day, clear and cold, and the sun shining 
upon the well burnished arms and accoutrements of 



BATTLi: OF I;ALI>S I'.LIFF. 15 

the men, withal, iiiadi' a pi •tiiri' with which [\\v liiKvst 
I ever saw on eaiivas wa-s not lo ho coni[)a,re(I for 
beauty. I saw the 3'outhful coinniaiider twice on that 
day. He was surrounded by a hundred staff officers, 
while scores more were flyiu';" liitiier and thither Avith 
orders to the different division commanders. His 
escort consisted of a1) )ut live luindi'ed picked troopei's, 
and this l)ody guard })revented us from g-etting too 
near tlieir cliief. lie himself stood up with a glass 
almost continually at his eye, and, if he tliought of 
making a striking picture of himself, I must say that 
he succeeded in impressing me by his attitude and 
reminding me of a famous picture of his alleged pro- 
totype. 

5. It might liave been a little before that that I went 
with some couriers who delivered at Poolesville certain 
despatches for General Stone. It was rather late one 
afternoon that wo left Washiiigton by the Rockville 
road, and it was almost dark when we galloped 
through Koekvilk'. t'ne county seat of Montgomery 
county, Maryhind. The town l)ore an ai)pearance of 
old age and decrepitude, and there were no attractions 
for us to stop, even if our ordei'S had not been imperative 
not to do so. Later, we arrived at Muddy Branch, or 
Darnstown. Darnstown was no town at all at that 
time, but I remember that Muddy Branch was very 
muddy. There were only two or three houses in the 
town, but they were ''on the Pike," and there was a 
cross-road leading to a ferry on the Potomac river a few 
miles to the south. There were ten or twelve regiments 
of infantry encamped thereabouts, and shortly after 
our arrival nearly all of them took up the line of 



16 NAERATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

march for Poolesville, a few miles further on. It was 
late fall or early winter, and the night was very cold. 
About midnight we arrived at Poolesville, and the 
General received his desi)atches. We did not know, 
at least I did not know, the contents of our papers, 
but early that morning Colonel Baker, of the First 
California regiment, was across the Potomac river, 
and the battle of Ball's Bluff was fought and lost. I 
went over after the battle, and penetrated nearly to 
Leesburg. I was, at times, inside tlie enemy's lines, 
but did not know that until I had got out again. 
That was the first time that I had jictually seen men 
killed and Avounded on a battlefield, and, it may seem 
strange, but I do not remember that I experienced 
the peculiar feelings to be expected. It was not until 
Wincliester that I did so. But of that as I get on 
with my story. Soon after the repulse and defeat the 
body of Colonel Baker was recovered, and I returned 
to Washington witli its escort, having been absent 
about three days. There was deep feeling manifested 
upon the death of Colonel Baker. He was extremely 
well liked by the men under him, and tlioir lamentations 
were loud. Although this regiment was called the 
" First California,'* it is not to be concluded therefrom 
that it was composed of Californians. It was not so 
to any great extent. Colonel Baker had been a 
Senator from Oregon, or California, I forget which, 
and I believe represented one or the other in the 
Senate of the United States at the outbreak of the 
war. I saw the regiment when it was beino^ ors^anized. 
It was encamped on tlie Bladensburg road, just outside 
of the corporate limits of Washington. Its organization 



FIRST (ALIFUKXLA J{E(U.MENT. I V' 

Wtis ditt'ereiit from that of most other rc^^imcnts in 
this,' that there were seventeen or eiu'hteen eompaiiies, 
four of which at least ha 1 ])een recruited in 
Pliiladelphia, Penusylvaiiia, and more in various 
other cities in unefjual pi-o[)ortio!is — this I know, 
because I witnessed scenes of emuhition, to designate 
it lightly, between the men of different States. 
Besides this regiment, he had several others at Ball's 
Bluff. There wei-e, 1 think, the Nineteenth and 
Twentieth Massachusetts, and I have an impression 
that I recognized the Fifteenth regiment from the 
same State. Colonel Baker was an Englishman by 
birth, but had been brought to this country at a very 
early age. In person and appearance he was large and 
heavy ; he had a full face, florid complexion, and he 
wore a full beard and whiskers, with these he had a kind, 
benevolent, and fatherly expression of countenance. 
It wjis generally remarked that he was too good a man 
to be recklessly exp;)sod to danger, and there was 
manifested a strong disposition toward having an 
investigation to ascertain whether the Colonel's next 
superior officer Avas vn)t to be blamed for the disaster. 
0. Again I went on an expedition to Virginia with 
a C(dumn of troops. We did not know where w^e were 
going to nor what we were going for, but at a misera- 
ble place called Drainsville, it was a question whether, 
in the skirmish that took place, we got beaten or were 
victorious. At any rate we came back without having 
accomplished any specific object that I know of. I 
believe this was undertaken by the troops of General 
McCall's Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. During the 
rest of the winter of 18G1-2 I was engaged in 



18 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE 60LDIEK. 

going from ciinip to cam}), iiiid in the habit of staying 
away from home for days and weeks togetlier. Of 
course it was very wrong and all that, and I invariably 
got lectured upon my return, but after all, I had 
many interesting experiences during that time, and 
besides, amid such scenes it would be hard to attempt 
to control a youtli of eighteen, especially as a wide 
and treacherous ocean existed between liim and direct 
parental authority. So I had very mucli my own way. 
I encamped at Tennalytown — a little beyond George- 
town — with the celebrated "Buck Tails" of Pennsyl- 
vania, and made many acquaintances among the men 
of the various regiments. I was in a i)()sitii)n to 
return services for entertainment, because, militai-y 
discipline being rigidly enforced, few of the oilicers or 
men were allowed to go beyond the grand lines of 
their respective brigades or divisions, wliereas, I was 
not so amenable to arbitrary orders, and could go and 
return nearly as it suited me, and thus I was enal)led 
to perform many little commissions for those Avith 
whom I associated. There were four or five regiments 
in the brigade of "Buck Tails,'' and these, with 
several others, and a battery, commanded, if I remem- 
ber well, by a Captain McClure, formed what was 
known as the "Pennsylvania Reserve Corps." The 
whole was commanded by General McCall. I became 
very intimate with several men in the Forty-sixth Penn- 
sylvania regiment. Indeed, I think it was that regiment 
that had whole companies of Welshmen in it. One 
of the men of this regiment was sadly homesick, and, 
as he had a sister who was a domestic in the family of 
Galusha A. Grow, the then Speaker of the House of 



PEXXSYLVANIA "HICK TAII.s. ' I'.J 

Representative,s, 1 was dulv comiuissioiicd to interview 
lier and lay his case before iier in sueli a way as that 
she should duly eouimuuicate the same to lier august 
employer, for relief. Whether my mission or her la- 
bors were ever successful I never learned, but T do 
know that wlien I reached home and told where I had 
been. I received the severest correction short of a 
thrashing 1 had ever had, from my aristocratic great 
aunt for communing with a ** servjint." It was very 
shocking to lier when she saw liow quickly 1 had blos- 
somed into so democratic a flower. Dear, high- 
minded old aunt I If she had but recalled history 
then, or was alive now to know as much as we do 
about the inside springs that move great men, she 
would have realized that ''servants" had before con- 
trolled, did then, and no doubt would thereafter wield 
no small influence in shaping the policies of those 
whom they serve — all the way between ]>resenting a 
good or ])ad dinner, guarding secrets well, and the 
other extreme, allowing tliemselves to be courted by 
news})aper c(n-respondents or other — spies. But that 
is not a narrative, and ought, if printed at all, to be 
placed in ])aren theses, and it would have been, if I had 
not Ijeen advised by very respectable authority to 
entirely discard the use of them in the kind of writing 
described in my title-page. I visited the camps and 
fortifications on both sides of the river. I was very 
much interested in the organization of the Sixth (or 
Fifth) United States Cavalry. The regiment was 
encamped on the great plain east of the capitol and 
not far from the Congressional burying ground. 
General Hunter was the Colonel and General Emory 



20 XAi;i;Arj\K of a pkivaie soldi ku. 

was thu Lieutenant (JoloneJ. A,< a matter of fact, 
there were few officers of the i-eginient between 
generals and second lieutenants. I liad very lively 
times as I scampered over tiie plain with tlie regiment, 
engaged as it Avas in "breaking in*' l^oth men and 
horses. After half a dozen lucky falls and a score 
of other misliaps, I became (juire expert as a rider. 
and I do not know but that 1 might have been a sub- 
altern in the regiment had I not been dissuaded from 
making an application by the highest domestic 
authority, Avho declared tliat in all her experience of 
sixty to eighty years, " none l)ut scapegraces ever 
went into the army." That was equal to a hnvfnl 
veto, and, bad as I was. I determined, although two 
generations removed, and a recent importation of the 
blood at that, not to voluntarily make of myself the 
traditional scapegrace of the family. Like aig-uments 
caused me to desist a short time after, when at Camp 
Carroll, just outside of Baltimore, 1 was found dressed 
in a blouse, wearing a jaunty cap, and drilling a squad 
of men of the Fifth Maryland Volunteers, over whom 
I hourly expected to be placed in command. I re- 
member that I had not been back to the capital long- 
when I started to go to Frederick City. I travelled 
on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to a point within 
three miles of the city, and there left the cars on 
perceiving the signs of an army being near by. Then 
I advanced, with military prudence, until I entered 
regular lines. The camp proved to be that of a 
brigade commanded by General Abercrombie. The 
camp was situated on high ground and in thick, wild 
woods, the whole oveidooki ng the Monocacv river and 



AT FKKDKltK K rllV. M A i; V 1,V N 1 ». "M 

the city beyond. I prfK-ci'dcd ilii-oiiLi-li t lie \;iri<>us vv/]- 
mental gT-ouiuls. and saw. aiii'tni^- otlicr cclchi-ii ies. 
Colonel FletcluM' We'h^lci-. (d' t lir Tw clft li Massacdiii- 
setts lufaiitry. udio wa< iMiulcd (»iit to iiie as a son of 
the great Evpounder of l lie Conslit iition. of which I 
made dne note, and have remenibered it to tliis day. 
Proceeding ow to the west, I eanie in siglit of tlie city, 
bnt before reaclii ng it I bad to pass over the o\i\ stone 
bridge which spans the Monocacv river a short dis- 
tance from Freck-rick. I might have crossed by the 
raih'oad bi'idge nearer, but the sight of tlie ohl stone 
structure took my fancy, [t was an ohl-fashioned 
affair — no one could inform me as to its age ; in solid- 
ity and plainness it reminded me of some of the old 
bridges I had seen in Wales, say that over the Usk 
river at Abergavenny. On either end there were two 
largo ui'n-shapL'd oi-nanients (d' stone, and T was 
gravely told by a " l*ennsyl\ ania Dutchman." win* 
WHS my guide, tijat enchjsed in eacb was a large pack- 
age of whiskey that had been [)laced there at the time 
the bridge w^as built. Tlie Monocacy river was more 
rajtid than deep, but the signs on the banks were that 
during a rainy season the stream might swell to large 
proportions. The road I was on led directly to the 
main street of tbe town, and I walked up that thor- 
ouglifare until I arrived at headquarters. I think 
General Banks, of Massachusetts, was in command. 
At any rate, I received a pass which enabled me to 
move pretty much as I pleased. Frederick is situated 
in a delightful country. Rich and well cultivated 
fields surround the town, especially on the north and 
west sides. The people who inhabited it were largely 



22 XAK.IATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

made ii}) of the desceiulants oi' the Gerimuis who long 
ago settled in Pennsylvunia, and who are vulgarly 
called '' Pennsylvania Dutch." They all hail from 
Adams County, and if one could say, and prevail 
upon the rest to believe, that his name was •' Schmidt," 
or any one of its German variations, he had almost a 
sure pass to the aristocratic i)ortion of the town. 
This is the place where Barbara Fritchie made herself 
immortal ; or at least the poet says she did. 

7. About March, ISiJ'L I took a longer tlight, this 
time with the intention of sharing with General 
Shields and his army whatever glory was to be found 
in the Shenandoah valley. I reached near Harjier's 
Ferry safely, but there the bridge had been destroyed, 
and we were compelled to remain on the northern side 
of the Potomac river, at a station called Sandy Hojk., 
until our turn came at the ferry. The Potomac river 
here was very rapid and its bed filled with jagged 
rocks against which the water beat and foamed and 
frothed again. T'here are three distinct mountains 
there, one on tlie Maryland side, called the Maryland 
Heights, another upon which Harper's Ferry is built, 
and another divided from the last by the Shenandoah 
river, which empties itself into the Potomac at this 
point. I finally got aci'oss in a flat boat, which was 
propelled by means of a rope fastened at either side of 
the river, and which was pulled upon by the occupants 
of the boat. It was rather a dangerous piece of 
business, because, if by chance we should lose our hold 
upon the rope, there would have been no help for it, 
but we should all have been dashed to pieces upon the 
rocks below. Several persons were so dashed and 



ox TO W INCIIKSTKIL '-;;] 

killed there on the sjiiiie (hiy that we })a?:.<e(l over. In 
Htirper's Ferrv J saw the engine liouse in whieli John 
Brown was IjesieLied and eaptuivd, and I i);iid dne rev- 
erence to it and its associations. The place Avas 
treated as a sjiot for j>iluiiniage. Evei'v one desired 
to see it, and at that time it had not heen torn to 
i)ieces for relics, as the soldiers of General Sickles's 
brigade did witli a celebrated tree on Jackson 8([nare 
in Washington. Pnr'sning onr way, we reached Mar- 
ti nsburg and rested. Late on an afternoon I started 
for Wincliester, and althongh I soon got very tired, I 
could procure no conveyance, so I let the army go 
ahead, and followed as best I could. To make it 
worse yet, it aj)peai"ed that tlie enem\' had utterly 
spoiled the macadamized road, as it was said, bv 
dragging locomotives over it, and of the whole width 
of the road theix* was scai'cely a piece left whole that 
was large enough t<» stand ui)on. Tiie men must have 
had a hard time of it as they marched ahead of me. 
On my way I came u}) to the camp of a detachment of 
the Fifth' (?) Mounted Kitles of New York. I Avas 
very hungry, and did not hesitate in accepting an 
invitation to dine with them. Up to this time I had 
seen but little of a soldier's real life after all. I had 
now to put up Avith the "hard tack," and it was A'ery 
hard at that, and "'sow belly" — that is Avliat the 
men called it, but avc knoAV it by the name of "clear 
sides." It Avas a bivouac, and I had no blanket — no- 
thing but a huge cloak that I had Avorn all the Avinter 
before. My hunger assisted me in submitting to the 
table fare, but as to sleeping Avith them, I could not 
bring myself to entertain the idea of it. I thought 



24 >;AJIKAT1VE of a PKiVATE SOLDIER. 

there would certainly be houses near by, and in one of 
them I might at least obtain shelter. The boys were 
a jolly set. They laughed and told stories. The big- 
gest and most improbable were laughed at the most. 
But I went on. By and by. as I trudged along, I 
overtook a genius who, if he be alive now and has not 
reformed his life, is either a millionaire or an inmate 
of State's prison. He was a l)right looking fellow of 
about twenty-four or twenty-five years of age, dressed 
comparatively ntatly, tind he carried a bundle under 
his cirm. He lost no time in nuiking my ac(jriaintance. 
and, without any solicitation on my })art, declared lie 
would bear me compiiny. Had I been older I would 
probably have been sus])ici<)us ; but in truth I had 
hastened my steps in order to overtake him. for the 
benefit of his comjninionship. The moon was shining 
somewhat, and I was Vvcll armed, but as it tui-ned out. 
he was not to be feared at all so far as my bodily 
safety was concerned. We widked on for an hour or 
so, and talked about everybody and cAerything except 
ourselves, and then he ventured to inform me that he 
belonged to the First A^irginia Cavalry of loyal troops, 
and was then going to join his regiment if he could 
find it. I am afraid that I did not eat much at my 
last opportunity, or else that the Avalking and talking 
had given me an extraordinary appetite, for I got 
hungry again, and I told my companion of my 
condition, and wished that we would soon get to a 
house. He appeared to know something of the 
country, for he told me confidently that very soon we 
would reach one that he knew of, and further, that 
we would have but little difficulty in faring well 



xiGiTT iu:f<)i;f: Tin-: isatti.k. 2.) 

enough. Presently we reaelu'd a ithiei' near J>unker 
Hill, and huvin<>- vxatled two or three hi'ooks that ran 
across the I'oad. v>e were start ]e«l l\v the harkiiio-. of a 
whole paek of dous. At the same time eaeli of ns 
drew his revolver, ami when the eloud that ha<l 
ohseured the moon had lifted we saw the liouse near 
l)y. It was one of those iireat siinarc strueteiix'S inside 
of whieh and presiding ovur it we naturally expeet to 
tind a stout, jolly-faeed owner, and. as it happened, 
there he was. My eom[)anion. in a commanding tone 
of voice, ordered the i>arty a[)i)(.'aring to ••ilown" his 
dogs, and the order was ol)eyed in good time. Then 
we advanced, and, hailing the gentleman, demanded 
if we could get fare there. At the same time my 
friend went np to the old fellow^ and whispered in his 
ear. The old man made no answer that I heard, and 
I believe if w(»nld have made hut little difference if he 
had denied us, so we went in. Peoj)le on the l)orders 
during that time, whether elassed as loyal or disloyal, 
had to he very careful of strangers who called. They 
might he "'angels unawares" that they were entertain- 
ing, or fcx^s indeed. But our welcome appeared to be 
a hearty one. We were conducted along the spacious 
hall, and from thence into a sort of sitting room and 
dining room comlhned, and while we sat warming 
ourselves before a. lively log fire a tine looking and 
youthful negro was engaged in ai'ranging the table. 
We ate a very hearty supper of fresh rolls, bacon, 
^'snitz" pie, milk, and coffee. When we had con- 
cluded our meal we wanted to pay for it, but our host 
would not hear of such a thing. We could '^stop all 
night, and go on in the morning." This we were 



"*2G NARRATIVE 01" A PKIVATE SOLDIER. 

under the necessity of doing anyway, beeunse the 
fiofhtino- had already commenced, and our soldiers 
were not yet in the city; but we thanked him all the 
same. During the conversation that now ensued I 
found to my horror that I had been travelling with a 
*^ rebel'' in disguise, and at the moment I felt like 
doing something. My companion saw the expression 
of my feelings as it was on my face, and wliile pretend- 
ing to topple over, he bade me in a whisper not to be 
^'a damned fool." Light was thus shed u})on the 
matter, and I saw it instantly, but I coukl not reach 
any satisfactory conclusion in my mind as to liis object. 
He certainly could not have been one of our s})ies. for 
if he was, he would not conduct himself in that way. 
so I thouglit. When we had got into bed he let me 
into the secret. **I know lu)w to travel," said he — 
"when you are in Rome do as Romans do,*' etc. 
Next morning, he succeeded in exchanging counterfeit 
Southern bills for New York ;ind other Northern 
States paper money Avliich the farmer had and 
considered worthless. My com})anion had upon his 
person an enormous quantity of the counterfeit stuff, 
and he acknowledged to me that he had made consid- 
erable money, and expected to make much more in his 
practice upon the dupes of a Southern Confederacy. 
As we were leaving early in the morning, he handed 
the poor old num a few ancient news])a})ers out of the 
bundle he had, and directed him to deliver them to a 
person giving such a sign and such a password. 
"They were for a blockade-runner," he remarked as 
we left. He afterward explained to me that he always 
did so, and after a day or two he would send his 



THE I'.A'iTLK OF W I N ( I! KS THi;. 2i 

partner in the deeeptioii to the poor old iii;in to whom 
lie gave the sign ami the password agreetl upon. This 
ensured good treatment, and pei'haps tlie host was 
again deceived as to luonev matters. 

8. Amid the hooming of not far distant cannon and 
the rattling sound ol* luusketrv we began our journey, 
and liad not tra\ened far before we fell in with the 
rear of the army. The various regiments were ranged 
in battle array on several rising grounds lying between 
Bunker Hill and the town of Winchester, Later, as 
we advanced along the high road, we were challenged 
by a guard of the One llumlred and P'ourtli Pennsyl- 
vania regiment of Infantry, l)ut, upon the arrival of 
the officer of tiie guard, we succeeded in showing him 
that we were jjroper persons, and as to the danger we 
were in of being shot by General Jackson's troops — 
that was our own lor)k-out. Thus we went on. Right 
in front of us, and, as it seemed, in the rear too, there 
was ra[)id liring by the skirmisliers for an hour or so ; 
but, aljoui !^eyvn (►Ydock in the morning, we were 
nearly run over and trampled upon by the troops who 
were advanciniiU}>on the " double quick." The colonel 
of tlie One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania regi- 
ment nearly knocked me dowji with his horse, and I 
barely protected my i)recions body by taking to the 
shelter of tlie stout Ijutt of a tree. How the fighting 
became fast and furious. I saw the enemy to the 
J &oi'th -east and east of the city, and they were quickly 
moving from place to i)lace, as if performing a 
manoeuvre, or preparing for a retreat. At eleven 
o'clock our troops continued to advance, so that 1 
could get on, and when I stopped I found myself on 



28 XAiiitATivE OF A j'KivATb: suldip:r. 

the summit of ;i hill, with the town in full view. Far 
away to the north-east I saw the broad Shenandoah 
just coming ont from between two hills, and again on 
my right hand I could see it placidly lying for eight or 
ten miles to the south. Here my companion left me, 
and as unceremoniously as we had come together. In 
between my prospect tlie battle niged for two or three 
hours more, Avhen I saw that our iiag was being borne 
far on the other side of the houses. As I advanced I 
soon found myself within the precincts of the ill-fated 
town. I did not go by the road, and if I had wished 
to go that way I could not have found it. Jumjung 
fences and crossing fields. I made my entry from the 
south side of the town. Here I met with desolation 
and misery in its direst aspect. A tine house, [iresent- 
inof many evidences of having been an abode of wealth. 
had been struck more than once by shot and shell 
from our batteries, and it was now broken and ruined. 
No one was to be seen on the premises, except in the 
adjacent outhouses there were a few negro women. 
These were weeping and wailing, but for what in par- 
ticular they seemed not to know. When I inquired of 
one of them as to who her master was, she set up the 
cry, "Tis two miles ; 'fore God, it's two miles." That 
was all I could get out of any of them. Thus I en- 
tered the town ; but the battle was nearly over. Far 
away I could hear the firing of guns, as if our gallant 
little army was pursuing the enemy to the south. 
During the remainder of the day the town was being 
filled with the wounded of both sides ; for the defeat 
had been so complete that the enemy left all their dead 
and wounded on the field. Along on the sidewalk 



Ani;i; 'riii: haitij:. 



■2\) 



wo^'fc! rauLi-otl. ill different plac-c^ in the crooktMl main 
t^treel. the Ixxlies of llio-e wlnt had heeii wounded, and 
then died suhse^nenl lo tlieir ivmoval from the liehl. 
Many surgeons were in tiieir lirst experiences in Held 
service, and on the hare sidewalk in front of the hotel 
they were cutting olT a leg here, and an arm there, 
and all the time the })oor wounded suhjectswere howl- 
ing and crying'' as their life's hlood ran down the 
declivity to the gutter of the street. Many failed to 
survive the performance of the necessary operations, 
and expired as they were left by the surgeons. Those 
that died were simply covered with blankets and left 
there. Across the street there was a church, and I 
went to see what there was within. 1 cannot conceive 
what it was that attracted me. 1 know I felt heart- 
sick on viewing the scenes on the street. I felt as if I 
Avas in a dream : that all T saw was unreal : and I 
realized the terrihie feeling of one who is in a, night- 
marc. \ know I gasped and held my breath. In the 
church r found at lea^t two hundred wounded and 
dying men. The majority were Northerners, but 
thev were all receiving e([ual care and attention. 
Here, too. many i)oor fellows died while under the 
suro-eon's hand. Some expired while the knife and 
saw were being used. There was one Avhom I 
met. a tall, stout, and strongly built young fel- 
low, al)out twenty-tive years of age, and, as he 
turned his agonized countenance toward me, I re- 
cognized him as one of the guards of the One 
Hundred and Fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania, who 
had challenged me in the morning. Poor fellow! 
he had been shot with a musket ball through the 



30 XARH.VTIVE OF A PRIVATE .SOLDIER. 

right lung, and had had a part of his face torn off by 
a fragment of shell. He did not appear to know me, 
although I did what I could for his comfort, and he 
expired while I looked at him. The doctors had 
probed for the ball, and had done what the enemy left 
undone of their intended work. While in the 
church, I noticed that no mitter what the nature of 
the soldier's wound was, the sufferer was invariably 
consulted as to the application of chloroform, and a 
sort of pride made a great majority of them decline 
the benefit of it. Tliere were some w!io even laughed 
and otherwise made light of their misfortunes. I 
could not stand it long, and, as I was very tired, 
sought a place where I could sleep. In a de- 
serted house I went with a few officers who lia:i 
been assigned by General Shields to take for- 
mal possession of the city. Here I laid myself 
down upon a bed that showed signs of having been 
vacated in considerable haste. A man's coat and 
vest were on a chair near by, and a nice pair of slip- 
pers were under the bedstead. I was not very 
particular, and did not undress, except as to my hat, 
cloak, and boots ; and I laid there during the remainder 
of the night in a dreadful sleep. Next morning the 
scene was more terrible than it had been on the 
preceding night. Scores of dead bodies had been 
gathered into an empty lot on the east side of the 
town, and when I arrived there, parties of men were 
eno^a.o^ed in interrins: the bodies. There was an officer 
who kept a record of those that were identified, and a 
rough wooden peg, with a number on it, was driven 
into the ground at the head of each grave. Many of 



ON A 'iKAN-iH'!;!". 'ul 

those I saw huv'wd had hclcii-vd in the One Uiiiidred 
and Fourth Pennsylvania regiiueiit. but there were 
also a number belon,<ziug to an Ohio regiment. Dur- 
ing tlie morning 1 was shown the phiee where the bat- 
tle raged most tiereely. There was a stone wall or 
fence on the brow of a wooded hill to the east or south- 
east of the town, where, it was said, the rebels had 
made a desperate stand, and many dead bodies of 
Southern soldiers lay behind and not far from it. It 
is claimed that because of this incident of the battle, 
the ffreat Southern comnninder was accorded his so- 
briquet of "Stonewall."' 

9. In a few days I was again in Washington, and I 
heard that a grand movement was about to be inaugu- 
rated. The whole Army of the Potomac was to be 
shipped to the peninsula in front of Richmond. De- 
termined to see that also if I could, I tendered my ser- 
vices, and was immediately placed upon one of the 
numerous transports. At that time the Government 
was dreadfully hai-d up for ships in which to transport 
the immense army and stores, and all varieties of old 
tubs were enlisted in the service. Even all the way 
from the Bay of Fundy they came, to earn five 
hundred dollars and upward a day. After having 
made two trips to Hampton village, I got on board 
the steamship ''Emperor," belonging to St. Johns, 
N. B., and owned by the Hathaways of that place. 
She, or he, was a very old tub, but I reflected that if 
the "Emperor" could stand the weather in the Bay of 
Fundy, she could probably get along without much 
trouble in the Chesapeake. Accordingly we went to 
Alexandria, Virginia, and there assisted in the trans- 



o'Z ^'.VKItATlVH ur .V rUiVATE JSOLDIEK. 

portatiun of (TCiieral Heintzelman's corps. We took 
Berdan's regiiueut of Kew York sharp-shooters to 
Fortress Monroe, and on another occasion we trans- 
ported General Emory and liis staff and escort besides 
a couple of batteries. We had a terrible trip with the 
General on board. It stormed all night, and the 
horses and men and guns and carriages went pell-mell 
together. General Emoi-y swore terribly. I can now 
remember that I then thought him a very bad man. 
In the morning the storm itself was over, but we were 
still suffering the disagi-eeable effects of it as we 
steamed rapidly toward Old Point Comfort. Few no- 
ticed that there was a remarkable trimness about the 
shipping. Our pilot apparently noticed nothing, for 
he kept going under a full head of steam so as to round 
the point and get to the wharf. Presently, a fast-go- 
ing little tug-boat darted out from the fleet and hailed 
us. An ofUcer on board of her swore a succession of 
oaths, and desired to know " where in hell we wanted 
to go." From him we received the cheering informa- 
tion that the dreaded " Merrimac" was coming down 
the river, and that all the craft near and far were in. 
imminent danger of being blown up. We then saw 
the men-of-war ships in full fighting trim, decks 
cleared and ports open. All the fleet of transports had 
steam up and anchors weighed, with prows turned for 
flight. It was too late for us. We were now^ around 
the point, and congratulated one another that if thei'e 
should be any fun, we would be in a good position to 
see it. Passing the '^rip-raps," we drew near to the 
little Monitor as she lay squat in the water of Hamp- 
ton Roads, with nothing above a foot higher than the 



Tin-: .MOM TO K .\^\) mi; in; I.MAC. oo 

surface but tlu- round tuni'l. on the top of which a sol- 
iturv officei- was ncr\oii>ly pj'.cini;-. and a Ha'j: staff on 
one end of her. froju wliicdi the* stars and sti-ipes 
fitfiiUv rnstliMJ in the fresh rMoi'nii^u- hreezc. At a 
more res])eetful distance were the larp-er wooden 
friu-ates. two or tliree of them. and. inside the roads, 
were tlie ruins of the ill-fated " Conu^ress ** and 
••Cumberland." l^^ir beyond, and a b)n_ii- way up the 
James rivei-, there 'was a heavy Idaek elond of smoke 
and a dark o))ject underneath. That was tlie Merri- 
mac, and she seemed bent on making us realize all of 
our worst fears. Hut she did not venture within 
figditing distance, and we waited through the agoniz- 
ing suspense until evening, wlien we were [)erniitted 
to land. I soon found myself in the fortress, notwith- 
standing the fact that Genend Wool had prohibited all 
citizens from entering. I visited the quarters, case- 
mates, magazines, and headquarters. General Wool 
looked and acted as if he l)elieved that it lia.d been fear 
of Itim a](uie that Inid deterred the commander of the 
enemy's iron-clad from coining out and destroying us 
all. Xext day I ])ut my head into the muzzle of the 
*• Lincoln" gun. and also into tliat of the "Sew^ard" 
aun. The.-e were two monster pieces of ordnance, 
planted dovrn on the sand near the water and formed 
a sort of shore battery. I also visited the ancient 
town of Hampton. The houses had nearly all been 
destroyed by fire some time before, but there still re- 
mained not far away a yery fine building that had for- 
merly been used as a seminary or college. Hampton 
is situated on the low, flat shore of the bay, and was 
ajiproached by water through a long and crooked chan- 



Oi XAlIUATiVE Ol' A I'll! V ATE SOLDiEK. 

nol. From Fortress Moiiroo we could plainly see 
Newport News and the rebel tiag at an outpost of theirs 
ou Sewell's Point, some distance south. Then we took 
a regiment or two to Sullivan's Landing, on the York 
river. As soon or befoi-e we were fastened to the 
shore, nearly all the men were in the sliallow water, 
diligently engaged in picking up and eating the oysters 
that abounded there. Tlience I went on toward 
Yorktown. I met with iv.M'dan's sharp-shooters, and 
saw a great deal of life at the front. 

10. On my return to Washington I merely rested 
awhile and then went off to the Shenandoah valley 
again. I met Banks and liis army, but I pursued an 
independent course, and found myself at last Avith 
General Shields far down tiio valley. At Port Repub- 
lic we had a desperate Hght. and our army was beaten. 
I was not present at the lighting, having the day 
before gone over the mountains for about ten miles to 
Cross Keys, where General Fremont had an army and 
was engaging tlie enemy. Next day, when I had 
nearly got back to where I started from, I found our 
camps empty, and the rebel cavalry far in my rear. In 
this most unpleasant })redicament there was nothing- 
left for me to do but to ascend one of the high hills 
near by, and hide myself for a time, or descend into 
the valley and take a risk of capture. Hidden within 
a clump of stunted pine trees, I remained all of that 
day and the next night. From where I was concealed 
I plainly saw and heard the rapid movements of the 
enemy's cavalry, and it was all to the }iorfh of me. I 
was thus virtually a prisoner. Next morning I arose 
from the green turf on which I had lain all night, and 



IX JUK siij:namh)a:i vai.lky .\<tA1N. bo 

^Xv'dhWily peered ar(»nii(l niid hehtw lo >ee wiint my 
j)ros[)eer8 were. I found not ;i single soldier in ^ight. 
Our iiieu had ]-ehv;Ued. and the enemy had also gone 
on their way. On tliis 1 ventni-ed to a road, and })ro- 
ceediiig sonic <,listanee ah)ng that, it hrouglit me to a 
highway at the bottom of the valley. 1 sto))j)ed at tlie 
iirst hoiicse, for 1 wa.^ nearly fainting with hunger, but 
the place was deserted- The furniture had been 
removed, and there was no sign of life about it, except 
the presence of a large dog, whom, to save myself, I 
desi)atched by a cou'ple of shots from my ivvolver. It 
was not until 1 had trudged along for a couple of miles 
farther that I was encouraged as I drew near to a sub- 
stantial house by seeing several i)ersons about it, and 
when I entered I found all was astir. The people 
that lived in the house Avere Quakers. In the wide 
hall that ran through the centre of the house were five 
soldiers reclining on extemporized bedsteads. Three 
of them were Xorthern men and two Southrons. The 
Quakei", a venerable looking man, and apparently 
purely ortliodox, and his family of young men and 
women, were administering what comforts there were 
within reach to the sufferers, wdio had been wounded 
in the lighting of the day before. My condition was 
taken m at a glance, and without being asked to which 
side I belonged, or in relation to any other personal 
matter, the old gentleman simply said, ^^ Walk in, my 
son," which invitation I ([uickly accej^ted. One of the 
daughters helped me to a splendid breakfast, and 
meanwhile told me how ''our horsemen" had chased 
the "Yankees " the day before, and that a sort of bat- 
tle had taken place near where we were. "Over 



36 >;AKKATiVK or A ruiVATE SOLDIER. 

yonder,'" she said, })oiiitiDg to a house in the distance, 
" were twenty or thirty more wounded men of botli 
sides." I tohl her of my adventures, and she seemed 
to be interested in my recital. She said she was older 
than I, and udvised me to go back to Washington and 
stay there until the war was over. Meanwhile a sur- 
geon of one of General Shields's regiments had arrived, 
and with medicines and bandages and sticks, attended 
to the wants of the wounded. Here I took my first 
dose of quinine. The doctor told me I looked sick, 
and declared that I ''would sui-ely get an attack of the 
ague," after my exposure. This was almost too good 
a place to leave, but in the afternoon I did so, and 
after a great march, sometimes riding and sometimes 
walking, I reached Washington again. Up to this 
time it will be seen that I was not yet a soldier, and I 
have thought that what I have written is somewhat 
out of place here, but, as it is done, I cannot forbear 
giving it a place, if for nothing else but by way of in- 
troduction. 



CHAPTER 11. 

FKOM ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF JUXE, 1862, WHEX I 
LEFT WASHIJs^GTOX FOR THE WEST, UXTIL THE 
LATTER PART OF OCTOBER IX THE SAME YEAIi, 
WHEX I WAS AT CRAB ORCHARD, KEXTUCKY, AS 
A PRIVATE SOLDIER OF COMPAXY " B," OF THE 
EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMEXT, ILLIXOIS IXFAXTRY 
VOLUXTEERS. 

1. DuRixu one of my many journeys to and from 
Wasliington in the spring of 1862, I chanced to be 
upon the I'ailroad train from that city to Baltimore. 
In tlie cars wei-e nniny convalescent soldiers ; some 
had been wounded, and were discharged and being 
sent home, to recruit that great army of cripples 
already appearing in the various States of the North ; 
others, not so badly off, were on furlough and leave of 
absence, and going to their homes for a season, in the 
full uniform of the army, and this without being 
under any of the restraints or inconveniences of army 
discipline. Among others on the train I met and 
became acquainted with Mr. Henry Weaver, whose 
home was at Loda, in Iroquois county, in the State of 



d'"5 N.VuK.VTlVE UF A riliVATE 60LD1ER. 

Illinois, lie hud been a i)rivute in Colonel Farns- 
worth's celebrated Eighth Regiment of Illinois 
Cavalry, and had just received his discharge from the 
service at one of the general hos|)itals situated in or 
near to Alexandria, Virginia, where he had been for a 
long time previously, suliering from typhoid fever. 
By him I was told of the beautiful country he lived 
in, and how easy it was to get along there, especially 
for a young man, such as I then was. By the time Ave 
readied Baltimore we were well acquainted, and on 
leaving him at the dei)ot of the Northern Central 
railroad, I received and promised to accejjt from him 
a cordial invitation to visit him in his jTrairie liome, 
so far away to the Avest, For some time after this I 
continued to be engaged in going from camp to camp, 
as I have before related. My relatives and friends 
persisted in their refusal to sanction my going into the 
army, and at last I conchided m3^self that after all it 
would perhaps be better for me to abandon the idea. 
For a little while I tried to settle down to hard study, 
but, Avith fifty thousand or more of armed men around 
me, and the continual hurly-burly of almost a state of 
siege, I made but little progress and realized less satis- 
faction. After making \i\) and tearing to pieces many 
different plans, I suddenly recalled to my mind the 
lieartiness of the invitation I had received from Mr. 
Henry Weaver, and I thougiit I Avould very much like 
to see his beautiful home and country. Eager at the 
thought, I determined to immediately l^anish myself 
from the stirring and demoralizing scenes by which I 
Avas so completely surrounded ; go to Illinois, pursue 
my interrupted course of studies, and finally settle 



(iOJ\(i To 111 i: WKST. o\) 

down to live tlioi-(\ All (liosc of mv fi-icn.ls to whom 
I mentioned my ])r(>ject npiihinded my i-csoliil ion. 
My nneie jokin^iy warned me iioi lo ivrui'ii to tlie 
East again nnless with my eie<len(ial^ as a mem])er of 
Congress in my jiacket. Ev.'n my elderly great-aunt 
thonglit I was on the right laek ai last, and soon after 
my last sad exju-rienee in the Shenandoah valley, with 
God-speed and good wishes froin all of my friends, I 
started aas}>iei(>nsly for the great West. But alas for 
the strength or weakness of human i-esojution I The 
next time my frien<ls heard of me I was a soldier 
indeed; but of that hereafter. My objeetive point 
was Loda, of course, but I went direct to Cliicago, so 
as to make of it a sort of base, as militai-y men would 
say. I travelled on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, 
through a rough country and over great mountains, 
to the Ohio river at Bel-air. On our Avay we passed 
through several military stations, and I suffered from 
as many different attacks of depression of spirits. At 
Oundjei'land, in Maryland. 1 even went so far as to 
want to desert the ti'ain and go with the *• boys "again. 
From Bel-air, where I saw and crossed the Ohio river 
for the hrst time in my life, we went on to Columbus, 
the capital of the State of Ohio, and from thence on 
to Chicago. It had taken us nearly forty-eight hours 
to get there. I arrived in the wonderful city of 
Chicago late in the evening, and in a very tired, dusty, 
and hungry condition ; but after a good bath and a 
toleral)le suppei-, which I obtained at a hotel nearly 
opposite to the Union depot, I set out to view the city. 
I had travelled a long distance — two hundred miles 
longer than the whole of Great Britain ; I had crossed 



40 >."Ai;;;ATiVE ui- a nil v ate soldi ee. 

high iiiuuii tains and a great river, and I thonght, as I 
went over tlie Allegheny mountains and tlie Ohio 
river, that I had at last seen some things of sutHcient 
importance to entitle them to places on the map of 
the world. I esteemed myself as very nearly equal to 
him who had climbed Moiit Blanc, or to the other one 
who had passed over tlie Andes, Now I was in 
Chicago, eight hundred miles from tidewater, and I 
acknowledge to have felt some surprise on finding that 
the people Avere very much like the inhabitants of 
other cities I had visited, and although I had travelled 
so far, I was not after all in a foreign country. Having 
made my arrangements so that I could afford to stay 
but one day, I had to devise some means of seeing as 
much as possible of the city in that time. The street 
cars seemed to be the best suited to my purpose, and 
upon one of them, that passed the hotel, I got, and 
as I stood on the front i)latforin, I engaged in conver- 
sation with the driver of it. Talking with him (and 
he was a very enthusiastic talker, even for a Chicagoan), 
and viewing the city, I went to the end of the route. 
We passed by many hundreds of houses that had not 
yet been raised to the new grade of the streets, and 
that part of the city presented a curious aspect. 
Some years before it had been discovered that the 
grade of the city was in many places below the level of 
Lake Michigan, and the work of raising the streets 
and the buildings to the new level had been going on. 
But once past the business centre, and when we got to 
where the residences of the poorer jieople were, the 
houses had not been raised, but the streets had. Many 
blocks had stores built on the corners, but between 



ON llli; I'UAll.'IKS. 41 

these corners tlie dwcllinu- houses seemef] to he in a 
hole. Entrance from the street hv means of the roofs 
appeared to be the easiest mode, lint in ])]aees where 
the distance was too i^ivat to he jnmj)ecl. long stairs 
had been built from the street down to the front doors 
below. After arriving at the end of the railroad line, 
I found mvself on a large ti'act of laud as flat as a 
mill-i)ond. 1 took another route on my return to the 
city, but the scenes were very much the same. 

2. Next day I took the traiji on the CMiicago branch 
of the Illinois Central railroad, and ran soutli on that for 
ninety-nine miles to Loda. It was during this journey 
that I first realized the nature and extent of the grand 
Prairies. For miles upon each side of the road, and 
extending as far as the eye could reach, to the east, 
and to the wa^st, there was nothing but flat, or very 
little rolling, prairie. Sometimes the horizon would 
seem to be broken by small, dark green objects of ir- 
regular sha])es. These were groves of trees, oases in 
the blank prairie. The laud itself was clothed in 
verdure, already thick and high, and all over were in 
bloom ujany kinds of })lants and flowers growing in 
wild profusion that take great care and attention to 
be cultivated at all in other countries I had visited. 
While stopping at a small station on the open prairie 
I. witnessed a phenomenon which I believe is peculiar 
to that country. It was an optical illusion. Although 
we were in the midst of a blank space, yet there ap- 
peared in the distance houses, churches, trees, and 
other objects, all of a grossly exaggerated size and 
turned upside doAvn. There were many veritable cas- 
tles in the air. It was quite a study while it lasted, 



42 N.VilUATlVi: OK A IT.IVATP: 80LD1EK. 

which was not long, and wc watched the beautiful 
picture as it o-radua-Hy faded, fainter and fainter, until 
the prospect became as it was before, one plain blank 
sea of green. In all that distance of ninety-nine 
miles I do not reme!nl)er t!iat our train crossed a 
single river worthy of the name, and none Mt all with 
a name, that I heard of. exce[)t that at Kankakee, and 
comparatively speaking, the dimensions of this one 
were insignificant. On my arrival at Loda I soon 
found my acciuaintance oi' rhe trip to Baltimore, and 
before night we were all together, he and his three 
brothers, Volney, Abram, and William. We were 
telling stories of tiie war. Oi' course, by politeness 1 
took my i)lace as a simpk' corroborator of what was 
said and related by the brother. He was near t > 
them, and besides so recently from the seat of war. 
Henry Weaver must have been about the first veteran 
to return to that neigli])orhood ; at least I thouglit so, 
from the way he was gazed at and listened to. I soon 
ascertained that Loda was not a place likely to prove 
suitable for me. It would have been just the place if 
I could have taken a hand at farming. If I could have 
arisen at live o'clock in the morning, and milked 
two or three cows, cleaned the horses and the stable, 
besides doing a great nuiny other "chores" before 
breakfast, then plough or plant all day. and repeat the 
"chores" at night— I might have been suited if I h:id 
been able to do all these, but I could not. Even the 
ten and twelve-year-old girls did more tlian I could. 
The town itself was a small flimsy affair of about fifty 
houses. The people who inhabited it were chiefly 
those wdio bought grain from the farmers at twelve 



"THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND MORE." 43 

and a half cents a bushel, and made high wines of it, 
and a few others who sold to the same farmers calico 
for their wives' dresses at a qnarter of a dollar a yard. 
Everybody retired to bed on ordinary occasions at 
eight o'clock in the evening and arose again at five 
o'clock in the morning, or even earlier. For awhile I 
had a magnificent time of it. I had almost forgotten 
that the war Avas going on, in my enjoyment of the 
task of helping to plough and to plant and in attend- 
ing the little social gatherings in the neighborhood. 
-Sometimes parties were held in the "Grove," some ten 
miles away to the east. When we went to the 
*' Grove " the large farm wagons were put into shape, 
and pell-mell we were crammed irito^ them, boys and 
girls together. Once out on the broad prairie, the 
horses were made to go at a round gait, and as we 
rushed along we inhaled the bracing, invigorating air 
of the fresh country, and by the time we reached the 
pic-nic grounds we held each within ourselves more 
fun and devilment than may perhaps be found in a 
dozen of city boys, lively as they are sometimes. On 
the "glorious Fourth of July" we had a grand 
time at Ash Grove. There were reading, praying, 
eating, dancing, flirting, but not a bit of drinking. 
There was neither whiskey nor beer. A full descrip- 
tion of that day's frolic would be out of place here ; be- 
sides that I have written it in another book. Although 
I had almost forgotten the war, I had not ceased to 
wear my semi-military dress on all proper occasions. 
I liked to wear my blouse, and sometimes added a belt 
around my waist and a jaunty McClellan cap on my 
head, and so, when about the 4th of July, 1862, the 



44 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

President's call for ** 300,000 more" reached us, and 
the country got ablaze with patriotism, I was ready. 
J had already thought of going away in search of some 
place more suitable for my projects of settlement, but 
had arrived at no determination. When the procla- 
mation came to Loda I first learned what patriotism 
was really like. Young and old became intensely ex- 
cited. None but patriotic hymns were sung. The 
village lawyer was threatened with *' lynching" because 
he was suspected of being a '' Copperhead." The end 
was that I went to Chicago to spy out the land, as it 
were. The Board of Trade of that city had undertaken 
to organize three regiments and a battery to be 
patronized by the members, and I soon returned with 
my pockets full of transportation tickets and authority 
to recruit. Finally, about the end of July, Abram 
Weaver, Volney, his brother, and several others, with 
myself, went to Chicago, and on the 1st of August we 
were enrolled and became part of the ** Nelson 
Guards," a company to be in the second regiment of 
the Board of Trade brigade. Then the boys each got 
sixty dollars as a bounty, supplied, I believe, by Cook 
county. 

3. Before our regiment was fully organized I went 
on recruiting tours out on several of the railroads 
leading from Chicago, and on my return I found we 
had been christened Company **B," Eighty-eighth 
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. William A. 
Whiting had been elected our Captain in place of A. 
S. Chadbourne, who was raised to be Lieutenant-Col- 
onel of the regiment. Henry H. Cushing was our 
First Lieutenant, and -. Lane had become the 



MUSTEliED IX. 45 

Second Lieiitenaut. I was somewhat chagrined to 
find, on my return from recruiting, tliat my ahsence 
had phiced me out of the field as a candidate for Sec- 
ond Lieutenant, which position I had been too sure of 
obtaining. We were now in camp at Cottage Grove, 
on the south side of the city, and just beyond Camp 
Doughis, which hitter at that time Avas filled with 
Confederate soldiers, prisoners of war. Near by, and 
on the edge of the lake, was the tomb of Stephen 
A. Douglas. The plain stone marking the grave was 
surrounded by a shabbier iron railing, but the whole is 
so situated that if in the future it becomes desirable to 
pay a greater respect to the memory of the "Little 
Giant," no better location could be selected for a mon- 
ument worthy of his talents and services by the admir- 
ers of the dead statesman. On the 27th of August, 
1862, we were regularly mustered into the service of 
the United States by Captain Christopher, U. S. A. 
We also received our Colonel, Frank T. Sherman, of 
Chicago, at the same time. We were not organized 
and equipped any too soon, for just at that time Gen- 
eral Buell, of our army, was on his famous retreat 
from northern Mississippi, and the enemy, under the 
command of General Bragg, were after him, and even 
ahead of him sometimes. The real object of Bragg 
appeared not to be known — whether he intended to 
strike Louisville, Kentucky, or Cincinnati, Ohio, was 
the question. We were, therefore, not allowed to en- 
joy our pleasant camp for any great length of time, so 
near to the great city, with the opportunities for get- 
ting delicacies afforded by it. But we had not been 
idle by any means. Our regiment was well drilled 



46 NARllATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

in all the small movements in arms and bodies, and on 
our last dress parade the line looked like a veteran 
battalion. Next day after the order was received, 
with three days' rations and onr knapsacks slung, we 
marched lightly through the city and to the depot on 
Madison street. Oui- company's patron, Mr. Murry 
Nelson, of Chicago, had formally, and with some cere- 
mony and a speech, presented us with a costly silken 
banner, but it was after some time given over to stor- 
age and safety.* We had a most disagreeable entry 
into active service. We were crowded into empty, 
open, shallow cars, used otherwise for transporting 
coal or other heavy merchandise, and crowded, too, to 
such an extent as to render our condition dangerous. 
Bc3ides this we were entirely exposed to the glare of a 
hot sun during the day, and as it wore on toward 
night the weather became cliilly. Although it would 
be wrong to say that we were being baptized with fire, 
yet it is true that avc were nearly blinded by the black, 
sulphurous cinders and smoke that came upon us from 
the engine in front. As we got along upon our route 
the people, who had heard of our coming, assembled on 
the platforms of the railway stations and pitched 
whole basketfuls of cooked provisions among us, and 
fruits of all kinds in great quantities. These were 
very acceptable because few of the soldiers had as yet 
gained any experience with the hard biscuits, and, al- 
though we were, as a general thing, pretty hungry, not 

* A gentleman with a better memory than I appear to have 
had informs me that our flag was with us in the field and used 
there as a battle flag. Mr. Nelson holds the flag now as a val- 
ued memento of the war. 



OFF FOK TilF SEAT OF WAR. 47 

many luicl yet ventured to attack their rations. We 
learned from the people tliat they were fearful that 
General Bragg might capture Louisville or Cincin- 
nati, or both, and al'terward invade and devastate the 
Middle States of Oliio, Indiana, and Illinois. In due 
time we reached JelTersonville, Indiana. Here we en- 
camped not far from the Ohio river, and received our 
proper arms and accoutrjments. Our arms were of 
the meanest kind even for that period ; they were old 
smooth-bore flint-lock muskets changed to the more 
modern style for percussion caps. They were very 
heavy, and dreadful kickers. 

4. We remained in Jelfersonville but a very short 
time. Then we were ordered to Cincinnati, and, very 
late at night, and thoroughly soaked witli the rain 
that had fallen, Ave arrived at that place, and were 
further ordered to cross over the river to Covington, 
Kentucky — ''Out of the way," some one said. At 
Cincinnati all was confusion. The enemy had been 
expected. General Kirby Smith and his Southern 
soldiers were supposed to be not far off to the sonth 
^id advancing rapidly. All able-bodied male citizens 
had been for some time engaged in erecting earthwork 
defences. Having had some little experience in the 
army, I felt that it would not be cpiite the thing for 
me to go to camp in the condition in wdiicli I then 
was, especially as it w^as plainly impossible and ont of 
the question to think of pitching our tents at that late 
liour and in such stormy weather. Our orderly ser- 
geant, Kent, and myself somehow or another became 
separated from the company and regiment, and, as we 
were both really sick, we went with some others to the 



48 NAKliATlVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

AVest End General Hospital. There we were well re- 
ceived and treated to good fare. The prescription of Dr. 
Daniel Jndkins, the surgeon in charge, for my ailment 
was, as I afterward learned, a dose of good whiskey 
(the first, I believe, I had ever tasted), and Kent got 
the same or a larger dose. This was on the night of 
the 11th of September, 18G2. The sergeant and I 
both slept well that night on nice clean hospital cot 
beds, and before we went to sleep we unanimously 
agreed to believe that our quarters were immeasui'ably 
superior to those of our comrades. On the morning of 
the 12th we set out to find our regimental camp, 
and [ifter a long and wearisome tramp over muddy 
roads and clayey hills, we found the men of the 
regiment huddled together in a bare gully not 
far from the Ohio river. Fortunately we were 
shortly afterward ordered to a more commanding 
and favoi-able position and farther to the south. 
Our new location was near Licking river, or Blue Lick 
river ; I have forgotten the correct name of it. Here 
we received our handsome Sibley tents, and our severe 
morning, noon, and evening drills were resumed. We 
were here organized into brigades and divisions of the 
Army of the Ohio. I am not certain of the designa- 
tion of our brignxle, but I do know that we were 
commanded by the present Lieutenant General Phil 
Sheridan. It was thouglit that General Kirby Smith, 
commanding the Confederate forces in our front, 
would make an attack on tlie city of Cincinnati, or 
pretend to do so, as an aid to General Braxton Bragg 
in his endeavor to capture Louisville. But the scare 
was soon gotten over ; General Smith did not venture 



IX CIXCIXXATI. 4y 

to advance upon our lines, and in a few days more we 
were ordered to vacate our cam}) and ^vorks, and 
proceed thence on a steamer to Louisville. This we 
did ; but something- was out of the way, if not 
decidedly wrong. Either the water in the Ohio river 
was too shallow, or we had an enemy at the wheel. 
Whether or no, we often ran aground, and on two 
different occasions the men were compelled to disem- 
bark on to the Kentucky shore, along which we 
marched in an irregular manner, to enable the 
steamer, thus lightened, to go ahead. While upon 
the shore we had no dread of meeting the enemy, 
and, as we frolicked along, employed ourselves in 
gathering and eating pa -paws and other wild fruits 
growing on the heavily wooded bank. We finally 
reached Louisville, and Avere in time to effectually 
check Bragg in his advance upon the city. Our 
brigade now consisted of the Thirty-sixth regiment of 
Illinois Volunteer Lifantry on the right, supported by 
the Twenty-first Michigan Lifantry. Our regiment, 
the Eighty-eighth, composed the left, supported by 
the Twenty-fourth regiment Wisconsin Volunteers. 
In the brigade, usually on our right, were the Second 
and Fifteenth regiments of Missouri Volunteer Infan- 
try. Tlie two latter regiments were almost exclusively 
made up of Germans, and were splendid soldiers. 
The Thirty-sixth Illinois was commanded by a large, 
homely-looking, and rough-mannered old fellow named 
Grisel. He had been engaged before the war as a 
freight-train conductor on the present Chicago, Bur- 
lington, and Quincy railroad. His voice was as 
thunder among the hills. The Thirty-sixth was a 



50 inArrative of a private soldier. 

veteran regiment, and when it joined ns the men of 
it presented a sorry spectacle. They had fonght in 
several battles in northern Mississipj^i, and had par- 
ticipated in the retreat from that region. They were 
ragged, shoeless, hatless, and otherwise forlorn, to a 
man. Until the regiment procured fresh supplies of 
clothing, and camp and garrison equipage, the men of 
the Thirty-sixth stole what they could from other 
regiments Avhicli were better provided, and when com- 
plaint was made, they called us " sixty-dollar " men, 
and told us to spend our bounty money. This last 
was said and listened to as a general thing in pretty 
good humor. Nevertheless, there Avas considerable 
growling and grumbling, because, whereas, the soldiers 
who had enlisted early in the war received no bounty, 
and were even paid a lower rate of wages ; many also 
had left behind them fauiilies to suffer : we, who had 
just entered the service so late, had received so much 
read}^ money in hand ; besides, those of us who left 
any dei)endents behind, had left them under the care 
of organizations of the rich and powerful, which, in a 
measure, assured the welfare of those dependents. 

5. At Louisville there was no time for anything but 
hard work. General Bragg was at Bardstown, only 
twenty-five or thirty miles to the south, and his army 
of veterans had rested and I'ecruited its strengtli for 
ten or fifteen days or more. One day's rapid march, 
and those veterans might enter the precincts of the 
city, and we be driven into the Ohio river ! Engineers 
upon our side worked day and night in surveA'ing de- 
fence lines and works, and the whole army and thou- 
sands of citizens besides followed the engineers in car- 



IN LOUISVILLE, KENTlCK'i. 51 

ryiiig out their plans by erecting tlie works. We Inid 
a long line of trencli and breastworks to make besides 
an indescribal^le kind of fortification to bnild on a 
slight rising of gronnd on the extreme left of our line. 
As Inck for some and ill Inck for others wonld have it, 
one of the lines that we were constructing ran directly 
throngh a noble vineyard. There must have been ten 
acres or more of vines, and the fruit was just rij^e and 
of a most palatable kind. The owner protested, of 
course, against the destruction of his fortune, but his 
opposition was all in vain. The rising ground to the 
north of his vineyard had to be strengthened by works, 
and the space in front of it must be cleared so as to 
afford no protection to an advancing enemy ; so vines, 
fruit, trellises, and all had to go. The men fed upon 
the fruit, and as a result many became sick from eat- 
ing too much of it. 

About this time General Jefferson C. Davis, of our 
army, shot and killed General Nelson in a hotel in 
Louisville. They had quarrelled over the arrangements 
that had been made for re-arming and re-clothing the 
veterans. Jeff C. Davis complained that the men of 
his division had not been treated fairly, and was 
called a ^Miar" by his superior, whom he thereupon 
shot. That is the story that we heard, but there was 
much more also said at the time about the relations of 
the two generals toward each other. General Nelson 
was half liked and half disliked. After General Pope, 
it was boasted of him by his admirers, that General 
Nelson was the ^^best, finest, and most elegant and ori- 
ginal curser and swearer in the whole United States 
army." There was some sort of inquiry held. The 



52 NAKKATIVE OF A PKIVATE SOLDIER. 

excitement among the common men reminded me of 
some of the passages of Tacitus. A few days more, 
and we had otlier matters to think about and to talk 
about. While at Louisville, we shifted our camp sev- 
eral times. The day was thick with rumors and 
reports of Bragg' s advance, and timid citizens ran 
hither and thither, apparently aimless, and filled with 
fear and terror. As niglit came on the fears of the 
populace grew in intensi ty. The orders given to pickets 
and patrols were very strict, and communicated in 
whispers. Great care and caution was exercised in 
preconcerting signals and in ensuring secrecy. Sky- 
rockets of all hues and of all combinations of stars and 
durations of time were continually being set off and 
bursting in the heavens. We were often called out 
twice or thrice a night by tlie "long roll " or the shrill 
"assembh^" and silently we were marched to the 
trenches or formed into line of battle at previously ap- 
pointed places. But after all. General Bragg did not 
come, and it is doubtful whether he ever intended to 
attack us, and perliaj)s he laughed in his sleeve as his 
outposts and spies reported to him the eveuts taking 
place in the city. 

6. Now began our first actual movement in the face 
of the enemy. Our troops were in excellent trim, the 
veterans well recruited, and the erstwhile raw troops 
already well acquainted with military discipline. It 
wiJ^ said tliat our army had thirty-five or forty thou- 
sand fighting men on its rolls, and all three arms in 
good proportion for the work in hand. Our brigade 
was now definitely placed in General McCook's Corps 
de Armee, which was the right wing of the grand 



MARCHIXG AFTER BRAGG. 53 

army, and on (3r about tlie 1st of October, 1862, we 
advanced in splendid order and elevated spirits. Our 
brigade was near the centre of the army corps. Our 
route led us through the most horrible of countries. 
Immediately upon leaving the city, upon the south- 
west side of it, we plunged into a wildly broken 
section, through dark and dreary defiles, over high 
hills, and across the North Rolling fork of Salt river 
and other equally muddy, nasty streams, which latter 
we were compelled, in almost every instance, to ford 
by wading through the water. After the first day or 
two our men began to show signs of fatigue. Many 
fell out of the ranks, and became stragglers ; surplus 
baggage strewed the roads, and whenever a halt was 
made the men took the opportunity thus offered of re- 
lieving themselves of needless articles which they had 
loaded themselves with under the erroneous impres- 
sion that they were necessary for a soldier's com- 
fort. Whole knapsacks, filled with kits — from 
shaving appliances and shoe brushes to portable 
writing desks — were thrown away. Many of the 
soldiers had foolishly invested in ili-fitting boots, 
and it was not until they had adopted the sen- 
sible regulation army shoe that comfort and ease 
in foot marching was attained. The heat by day 
was excessive, and pure drinking water was scarce ; 
many suffered on that account, and kept the doc- 
tors busy in prescribing for the peculiar complaints 
thus engendered. However, it was not long before 
our raw troops learned to imitate the veterans, and by 
assuming the lightest marching order, straggling, sore 



54 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

feet, and fainting at the same time almost entirely 
disappeared from the ranks. 

It was said that we had been directed to proceed on 
that route in order to the better concealment of our 
formation and numbers — as if General Bragg had had 
no spies in tiie city ! We were very thankful after two 
or three days to find that our advance was now within 
a few miles of the Bardstown turnpike road, and that 
we were but ten miles from the enemy did not make 
any difference to us. The way was dark, and the 
weather was rainy and disagreeable, and, as we trudged 
along the winding roads and climbed up one side and 
rolled down the other of hills, the veterans started to 



John Brown's body is mouldering in the grave, 

But his soul is marching on. 

And very soon our whole regiment, then another, and 
in a short time the whole division caught up 
the strain, and then — the occasion defies descrip- 
tion. The conformation of the country was pecu- 
liarly well adapted for producing an effect. Before 
the echoes from one range of hills had been spent they 
were overwhelmed by others, until the great conglom- 
eration of sounds made the place seem unearthly. 
Late at night we filed into the great road, and pitched 
our bivouac not far away. 

It appeared that we had made good time ; for we 
had reached this point somewhat in advance of the 
time expected, and considerably in advance of the 



BARDSTOWX, KENTUCKY. 00 

centre of the main army. Onr ex})edition, liowcver, 
was ill rewarded because it became onr duty to sustain 
pickets and out])osts besides remaining under arms all 
night. In the moi'ning tlie remainder of the army 
came up, and in order to allow us to subside into our 
proper position, we were permitted to rest awhile 
until the others had advanced. In the field in which 
we had bivouacked there was stubble, and growing in 
amongst that we discovered a species of wild fruit 
called "ground cherries." These the men ate with 
great relish. The advance on Bardstown Avas made 
with great caution, although, as it afterward proved, 
without much reason for it. We formed into line of 
battle, and so went through the woods, fields, and de- 
pressions, but Bragg had gone. Still, we kept up our 
array until we were well on to the Springfield road 
after the flying Confederates. We vvere then told 
that Bragg never intended to pursue an offensive 
policy in getting so far to the North ; that he only de- 
sired to hold the country long enough to enable him 
to secure the crops, just ripening ; in fact, that he 
had fifteen hundred wagons laden with the supplies 
he had gathered ; that to obtain these had been his 
only object ; and finally, that we were to pursue him 
with such diligence as to compel him to disgorge the 
most if not all of it. On the 7th of October we had 
pressed the enemy all day, and our advance was neces- 
sarily slow, but late in the evening we passed through 
the long single street of straggling houses that 
altogether formed the town of Springfield, and soon 
after went into bivouac on the heels of the enemy. 
We were somewhat in front, but all night the army 



56 NAKIIATIVE OF A TRIVATE SOLDIEE. 

was being advanced and placed into position. The 
enemy had turned his back and was at bay. Picket firing 
continued more or less throughout the darkness. I 
saw General McCook twice during the night. He was 
right in front, and dashing here and there as if deter- 
mined on business. General Crittenden did not come 
up with his troops until morning, and then he went to 
our right. General Sheridan was busy too. He acted 
in a very common manner, and did little that night to 
bespeak his future standing. I believe he had not yet 
changed from being tlio Colonel of a Michigan cavalry 
regiment of volunteers, although he did duty as a 
Brigadier. There Avas no sleep nor rations, no fires 
were allowed, and we laid on our arms all that night. 
7. Before daylight the next morning (the 8th) we 
were astir and in motion, flying to the position assigned 
to us, and the " Battle \)f Perryville" or '^Cave 
Springs " was begun. At eight or nine o'clock in the 
morning we were supporting a Missouri (?) battery of 
four brass pieces, twenty-four-ponnd howitzers. The 
battery was planted on the brow of a hill and immedi- 
ately to the right of the road, and up to the time of 

our arrival had been supported by the Regiment 

of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The men of this latter 
regiment were now weakening, and as the fight became 
warmer, were preparing to fly. General Sheridan 
dismounted near our company, and ordered us to 
shoot the first man of the Ohio regiment that 
attempted to retreat. But we did no such thing, and 
the poor fellows quickly obeyed their OAvn impulses 
and went to the rear, first one at a time, then in 
squads, and finally the whole regiment scampered 



BATTLE OF PEllUYVILLE. 57 

down the road. We then received orders to udvancc 
up the incline, pass the battery, and descend the other 
side, so that the guns could i)hiy their havoc over our 
heads. If I may be allowed to judge, I must say that 
the Eighty-eighth obeyed the order in gallant style, 
especially when it is considered that that was the first 
time the regiment had been exposed to the fire of the 
enem}^ The bullets fell fast and thick around us, and 
there was much ducking of heads. As we passed the 
battery and went ahead, our work was presented to 
our view. The descent was more abrupt than long, 
ajid there were a few standing trees on that side of the 
hill; beyond was a stout rail fence, and then a large 
corn-field with the stalks standing ; beyond that again 
t'here was a gentle acclivity of open ground, which 
ended in thick woods. In these woods the enemy was 
strongly posted. Three separate attempts were made 
by the enemy to dash over the space between their 
line and ours. Once they actually entered the corn- 
field, but a battery on our right and front caught 
them with a murderous fire in flank, and three times 
they were driven back to the friendly shelter of the 
woods. -The object of the enemy seemed to be to dis- 
lodge our battery and thus cut off our left by gaining 
the road, where, as we saw the next day, they had 
well nigh defeated us. With continued heavy firing 
upon both sides, and without any particular regiment 
advancing beyond the rail fence, the fighting went on 
until after dark. We lost, as I remember, of our com- 
pany only one. He was quite a young boy, named 
Lynn, a sort of pet of the company. He was wounded 
in the leg. On our left, as I have said, the fighting 



58 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

had been more severe. A General or Captain Terrill 
and also a Captain Jackson had been killed. One or 
the other of the two commanded a battery that was 
roughly handled by the enemy during the battle. 
Early next morning we were expecting to renew the 
engagement, and advanced, first, in line of battle, and 
afterward on the right by companies, but there was no 
enemy to be met with ; he had fled during the night. 
We then wheeled around and encamped on the bed of 
the creek near the left of the battlefield. There was 
strong talk of General McCook having received an 
unsatisfactory reply from General Buell when he re- 
quested the assistance of cavalry to pursue the enemy, 
and that it was to the effect that as General McCook 
had recklessly brought on the engagement, he should 
fight it out with his own corps unaided. It was said 
that there existed a close relationship between the 
commanding generals of both armies ; but that was 
only camp-fire talk. At any rate we encamped on or 
near the field of battle for two whole days, and 
by that time Bragg and his wagons were far away. 
Because of the absence of rations, we were com- 
pelled to do some foraging here, and the ducks and 
geese in the almost empty stream were made to 
suffer their necks to be stretched, to help appease the 
general lack of food. The day after the battle we dis- 
covered that it was the division of General Hardee 
that opposed us the day before, and that the line that 
showed such temerity and courage in making the at- 
tempts to storm our battery was composed in part of 
the Third and Fourth Florida regiments of infantry. 
Many members of these two regiments were killed or 



AFTER THE BATTLE. 59 

wounded, tlio hitter caj)tnred and made })ri,s()iicrs of 
war, and it was from them we derived our information. 
They also told us tliat wlieu they saw our regiment ad- 
vance they surmised that we were "regulars," because 
our men wore dark trousers, whereas volunteers wore 
pantaloons of sky-blue materials. We took this as a 
great compliment. It was at this battle that many of 
our men had for the first time viewed a dead man, or 
at least the body of a person killed by violence in war, 
and because of the black, swollen condition of many of 
the bodies of the slain Southerners, a report circulated, 
and was believed to be true by many of our men, to 
tlie effect tliat our enemies had been fed on gun-pow- 
der and whiskey in order to so fire them that they 
should become animated to fight with desperation, 
and that the gun-powder caused the discoloration. 
On a rocky spot in the bed of the ci-eek I saw four or 
five bodies, by their clothing, apparently officers of the 
enemy. These had been cared for to the extent of the 
building of a rail fence around them, so as to protect 
the remains from being attacked by the swine that 
prowled in the woods. The disgusting sight of these 
animals feeding upon human gore was more than suffi- 
cient to give them immunity from sacrifice by the 
hungry of our army. No one could be found suffi- 
ciently hardy to talk of eating of the flesh of hogs 
captured near the batttlefield. No ! No more than 
if we were an army of Hebrews. 

8. Immediately after this we started in pursuit of 
General Bragg, his army, wagons and all, through Har- 
rodsburg, Lancaster, and numerous other insignificant 
toAvns, until he and his finally disappeared far into the 



60 NAKIIATIVE OF A PKIVATE SOLDIER. 

AVild Cat moimtains. ILirrodsburg was no burg at 
all so far as we were permitted to see, but Lancaster 
had been a pretty little old-fashioned town, albeit it 
was, when we marched through it, very thoroughly 
gutted, and probably by the retreating Confederates. 
On this marcii we saw the camp fires of the enemy 
nearly every night, and reached them before they had 
finished burning in the morning ; often as we arrived, 
after climbing to the top of a hill, we were favored 
with a sight of a large part of the enemy's forces and 
long lines of wagons winding along around the feet of 
the hills and through the valleys beyond, apparently 
at a snail's pace, and not very far from us, but in re- 
ality the rear guard of Bragg's army was seldom within 
several miles of our advance, and the whole army was 
moving at a rapid gait. 

During this march, also, the President's proclama- 
tion in relation to the emancipation of negro slaves 
came to be understood by the people of the countr}^, 
and they began to realize that all the chances were 
against the existence of slavery after the ensuing New 
Year's Day, unless the South in the meantime were 
eminently successful in the field. There Avere some in 
our army who were almost seditiously inclined ; officers 
resigned their commissions rather than be engaged in 
the forced emancipation of the negroes. Said they, 
"We enlisted in this war for the maintenance of the 
Union, and not for the purpose of protecting the 
negro." Such, however, were in a wonderfully small 
minority when compared with the great mass of the 
army. The latter were called '^Abolitionists," whether 
or no, and thought it not wrong to take the game as 



THE E.MAXJLPATIOX I'RUULA.MATJOX. 61 

\s^ell as the naiuo of '' Jiio-i^cr steiilors," so that avIrmi 
an able-bodied negro wouhl e )nie and crave assistance 
in his hiding from liis " massa," we took him in and 
he became a servant for ns until he coukl do better. 
There were also grave differences in tlie construction 
of the terms of the proclamation among the superior 
officers of the army. The great mass of the army 
were in favor of at once giving assistance to negroes 
desirous of getting their freedom, but our General 
commanding seemed to think that in relation to slaves 
and slavery a sort of static quo was decreed until the 
first of January then ensuing. 

Even the famous doctrine of '^contraband of war" 
was ignored by Greneral Buell. Often at night, when 
we had pitched our camp, might have been seen the 
traditional slave-driver, riding upon a mule and wear- 
ing a broad-brimmed hat, and carrying in his hand a 
stout cowhide whip. He would be searching for his 
negroes who had joined our ranks as we marched past 
his plantation. When any such were found the mas- 
ter hastened to headrpuirters, and there he obtained 
an order that the runaway be delivered to his alleged 
owner. Now it was the turn of the other side to » 
grumble and be indignant; said they, '"'We enlisted 
to save the Union, and not to catch runaway slaves." 
Many openly refused to obey such orders, and in one 
or two instances which came under my direct observa- 
tion a mutiny Avas barely avoided. We had at one 
time a lively young negro come to us, and he implored 
our protection from his cruel master. He was very in- 
telligent and bright — almost another Harris. We 
gave him a camp kettle to carry for us, and he did it 



62 NAlUiATIVE OF A PKIVATE SOLDIER. 

clieerfiiUy i'or the rest of the day. As was usually tlie 
case, wlieii we had readied our place of bivouac, up 
came the master jnifiiug and blowing as if he had rid- 
den a long- way and at a very fast gait. He soon 
espied his "chattel," and made a demand for the pos- 
session of him, Init we were enlisted on the side of the 
poor negro. There were but few "War Democrats" 
among us, and we refused to comply with the owner's 
demand. Then he went away for an order, but we 
knew that he might soon return, and so we secreted 
the slave in another com})any, and when the owner did 
return witli his written order and backed by a staif 
officer to enforce obedience, the negro was 7wn est in- 
verttus, and thus we baiiled the process. The man 
^YVl.i shrewd, however, and perhaps he was helped by 
the advice of those in authority, for, when on the next 
day Ave had recovered our man from his hiding j^lace 
and reinstated him within our company ranks, and as 
the poor negro marched lightly under his burthen, no 
doubt congratulating himself that every step forward 
widened the distance between him and his hated con- 
dition of servitude, up came the owner, backed by an 
* officer of the general staff, who, we were given to under- 
stand, was no less a personage than G-eneral Fry, chief- 
of-staff to the commanding general. This looked 
bad for the negro, and he cpiaked with fear and his 
thick lips looked bloodless. The opposition we made 
was strong, and it even went so far that the column 
halted, and more than one musket was brought into 
position to shoot the officer, so great Avas the indigna- 
tion at Avhat Avas considered an outrage. But no overt 
act of mutiny was committed beyond Avliat I have 



AT CRAB OKCIIAKI), KENTUCKY^ 03 

said, and the officer, whoever lie was, rode on his horse 
into the ranks, seized tlie almost fainting victim by 
the collar, and jerked him out and into the roadway. 
As he was thus ruthlessly torn away, the poor fellow 
gave us in his immediate vicinity one look of despair 
that I shall never forget as long as I live, and, as he 
was formally turned over to his master, his cries and 
howling rose loud above the shouts of indignation 
raised by the men of our regiment. It is not hard to 
conjecture what the nature was of the treatment the 
runaway received at the hands of his master. Feel- 
ing, as I said before, ran very high against all con- 
cerned, and but little more was required to provoke 
that which would have forever closed the career of 
General Fry then and there. This was not far from 
Lancaster. 

9. At Crab Orchard the weather became quite cold. 
We had no tents, and our other baggage had most of 
it been left behind at Lancaster. We had noAv lost 
sight of the enemy entirely. Bragg was safe in the 
mountain passes of that country, and if it had ever 
been the intention to catch him, the opportunity to do 
so was gone for a time. No power but the elements 
could reasonably be expected to prevent him from 
crossing the mountains with his army, and plunder. 
Besides, our bases of supplies were not then situated 
so as to be calculated for a campaign beyond, in East 
Tennessee ; so we were halted at Crab rchard. Our 
division was in front, and was deployed out in a grand 
line enclosing within it several high mountains and 
deep valleys. As we drew in our cordons we were suc- 
cessful in capturing and bringing in very many strag- 



64 NARRATIVE OE A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

giers fi'oni the enemy's army. We had pity on many 
of them, because it was not hard to see that the event 
was anything but honorable to them. Many were 
conscripts, forced against tlieir wills to take up arms, 
and they had ])urposely allowed themselves to be taken, 
and so perhaps that they might be able to return to 
their homes not yet so far away. At Crab Orchard, 
too, the boys did some foraging for themselves. Near 
our place of bivouac there was a large field of sugar 
cane, of the kind called " sorghum," and there Avas 
a mill placed near the centre of it. Tlie grinding 
apparatus was of a most ancient and primitive style, 
but the men inserted fence rails where there should 
liave been lever poles, and used their own power for 
lack of horses or steam, by which means there Avas 
soon procured a large quantity of the juice, and that 
being boiled down u]_ion a fire near by, produced a sort 
of syrup or molasses. Personally, I had quite an ad- 
venture while on grand guard, or picket, near Crab 
Orchard. In company with another man I had just 
got to the top of a high hill when I saw far down in 
the winding valley beyond a wreath of smoke ascend- 
ing above the trees of the dense, primeval forest. 
Where there was smoke of that kind there might be a 
house, and we reasoned that if there was a house with 
a fire in it, there ought to be something to eat inside, 
so we determined to investigate. After a long, tire- 
some, and tedious brusli through the trees, over 
streams, and across bottom lands, we suddenly came 
upon a log hut, and we perceived that it was from 
there that the smoke came that we had seen. As we 
approached, a dog by its barking warned the occu- 



AN ADVENTURE. 65 

pants of our coming, and as we cnicrg'cd wo saw one 
of tliem lolling against the doorway-to tlio hut. lie 
was a tall, lank, yellow-looking fellow, clothed in 
dirty, ragged, home-s[)uii garnients, a coat of one color 
and trousers of another, but lie still Avore upon his 
head a small gray military caj). Fortunately we had 
our guns loaded, and my com})anion covered the 
native and ordered him to get outside entirely and 
raise his hands above his head. This order was 
obeyed with reasonable iilacrity, and after he had 
shuffled and wriggled himself into the proper position, 
I demanded who he was and who was with him. He 
answered civilly and straight enough that he was a 
poor man and living there and cultivating the small 
Ijatcli of open ground in front of us. He swore, how- 
ever, without us asking him, that he was no ^*Reb," 
and therefore we did not believe him as to that. On 
going inside I saw a monstrous sized Dutch oven on 
the open hearth, and within that was a large batch of 
corn bread just done to a turn. On a rude table there 
were set enough of cups and saucers and broken 
knives and forks for three or four persons. I left my 
comrade to take care of the prisoner, while I secured a 
portion of the contents of the oven, some butter, and 
one or two other things, a few red pepper pods, and 
such, and then I returned and sent my companion in 
to search the place. No sooner had he turned to enter 
the house than our prisoner took to his heels and fled 
like a deer into the deep woods. He was ofl and out 
of sight before I could fire my musket, even if I had 
wanted to, which I did not at that time because it 
might have brought a dozen of the enemy to fight us 



66 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

two, and that would have been serious, if not fatall}^ 
to our disadvantage. As it was, we saw that the best 
thing we could do would be to hurry away as fast as 
we could, and we had barely got out of the woods be- 
fore we heard the howling of two or three dogs almost 
at our heels. We hurried along without any knowledge 
or thinking of where we were going until after we had 
scampered helter-skelter some distance, when we fell 
in with a small party of our men. While sharing with 
them our plunder, which was enjoyed by all with great 
relish, we laid before them the particulars of our ad- 
venture. Then it was agreed that all of us should re- 
turn to the hut and see farther into the affair. This 
we did, approaching very cautiously, and this time 
effectually surrounding the place, so that no one could 
escape. Thus we succeeded in capturing four men in 
the shanty. Only two of them, however, had arms, 
and one of them was wounded, so we left the wounded 
man and the one we had first seen, and marched away 
with the other two and with the captured arms in our 
possession until we fell in with a detachment of our 
provost guard, to whom we delivered our prisoners. 



CHAPTER III. 

C0NTAI:N^S AN" ACCOUNT OF THE MARCH FROM CRAB 
ORCHARD, KENTUCKY, IN OCTOBER, 1862, UNTIL 
THE RAISING OF THE SIEGE OF NASHVILLE, TEN- 
NESSEE, AND THENCE ON UNTIL THE EVE OF 
THE ADVANCE ON 3IURFREESB0R0'. 

1. Up to this time I luive said little or nothing of 
the personnel of my immediate comrades. The truth 
is, that the recollection of a great majority of them 
has faded from me; but notwithstanding that, I Avill 
endeavor in this })lace to do the best I can under the 
circumstances, in telling Avho and what they were. 
Our Colonel was Frank T. Sherman of Chicago. He, 
or his fatlier, or some other relative of his, owned or 
controlled the " Sherman House," a large hotel in 
that city; at least that is what I remember having 
been said of him in the regiment. In person he was 
tall and slim. He had a darkish red face and promi- 
nent features, suggestive of a tincture of Indian 
blood. Both in his face and temperament he was 
decidedly biliously inclined. Perhaps I would bo 
better understood if I said that his whole countenance 



68 NAPtllATlVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

was Cassius-like, and be was on the whole consider- 
ably more feared than beloved by the men of the regi- 
ment, in so far as I noticed. In age he was then 
probably forty-five years. I can trnly say and affirm 
that, although I saw him every day for nearly five 
months, I but rarely saw him smile, and never heard 
him say a kind word to any one. On one occasion, 
however, he gave a sign of there being something in 
him which, if assiduously cultivated, might have 
redeemed his character. It was while we were march- 
ing from Louisville, Kentucky, and about the second 
or third day out from that place. We were winding 
up hill, plunging into ravines, and the rain fell in 
torrents upon us. The " boys,'' as I have elsewhere 
mentioned, had been singing- 
John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, 

and that other one. 

We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more, 

and such like songs, in an uproarious manner, and 
had stopped, aj^parently for want of breath, as they 
plodded along the ascent of a steep hill. Having 
reached a more favorable ground, the Colonel, who 
was just in advance, gave out the command in clear, 
ringing tones : 

" Prepare to pucker I Pucker ! " 

At this the first company gave a shout, and soon the 
whole regiment caught it up, although the men to the 
rear of Company " B " could not possibly have had the 
slightest idea of what they were shouting at or for. 
Then followed more singing, of course, and the next 



PERSOXXEL OF THE EIGilTY-EIGllTlI. (••» 

day the Colonel vviis credited as the possessor of sonic 
luimor. 

Lieutenant Colonel A. ^. Chadbourne was a mild- 
mannered, blue-ej'ed man, and about as lit for hard 
military service as a delicate woman might be. How- 
ever, he had a full beard and whiskers, and looked 
well on horseback. He had formerly been a commis- 
sion merchant in Chicago, and was very much liked 
by the men of the regiment, but I never remember him 
to have distinguished himself in the field or upon 
the march. Who our Major was I have utterly forgot- 
ten. Dr. Ooatesworth was our regimental surgeon. 
He was a large, jolly-faced English-Canadian, if I re- 
member aright, and it was said that he was a good cus- 
tomer at his own medicine chest, especially for '' qui- 
nine and whiskey," minus the quinine. Dr. Eankin, 
our assistant surgeon, I knew better. He was a differ- 
ent kind of man altogether. He did not carry 
himself so high as tlie surgeon did, and at ''sick call" 
the boys Avere sure of receiving a kind word and good 
advice as well as the regulation dose of castor oil. We 
were all very sorry when the Doctor was detached 
from the regiment and sent to one of the general hos- 
pitals in Nashville. Captain William A. Whiting, of 
Company "B," was rather a nice-looking young man 
of twenty-eight or thirty years of age, but I never liked 
him sincerely because he exhibited on numerous 
occasions a marked affinity or partiality for one 
of the several ''cliques" of which the company 
was composed. This was the " Gridley clique," made 
up of about a dozen men, headed by our Orderly Ser- 
2:eant, and who hailed from a town of that name 



70 XAKKATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

situated far in the interior of the State. Our First 
Lieutenant was Henry H. Gushing, a bright, soldierly 
young man, somewhat younger than the Captain, but 
taller and more dashing in appearance. He wore 
mutton-chop-shaped whiskers and had a light or red- 
dish growth of hair. He was not heeded very much 
in company affairs, and I never remember him to have 
been in sole command. Some time before I termi- 
nated my active connection with the company he had 
been detailed away as Acting-Quartermaster of the 
reofiment. The Second Lieutenant was named Lane. 
He was a heavily built young man, and of a dull, stu- 
joid disposition. He had nothing much to say at any 
time, even if he knew of anything to talk about. He 
was absolutely a " Gridley " man, pure and simple. It 
is easily to be seen that I did not belong to that 
** clique." There were, as I said before, several of 
them. There were the '^Loda" boys, the "Onarga" 
boys, etc. If I belonged to any clique at all, it was 
the "Loda" one. In it were Abe Weaver, Volney, 
his brother, Ed Stemp, and some others, besides my- 
self. As in all companies of men any way numerous, 
there are bound to be notable characters in more or 
less variety, our company was not an exception. 
First and chief of ours was Tommy Corrigan, a small- 
sized but tough specimen of an Irishman, and as 
occasion required, he had the command of every bit of 
wit and brogue his mother gave him. He was the 
''funny man" of Company " B," and often got himself 
out of a severe scrape by the judicious use of his mother 
wit. While we were encamped on Mill Creek, near 
Nashville, the Colonel had a milch cow, but no guards 



IXCOIMlKii I'U: iOMMY COIIKKIAX. 71 

could be <^-()l who \\rrr IkmioI I'lKni-h t" pi'oh'ci the 
tents effectually, (o .<ay iioiliin-- of llic whole beast. 
Oiu' au<l all. thev purloined ilie luilk in luoir or less 
])ro[)ortious to I lie avIioIc until 'I'onnuy ('orfigau was 
picked out as a periuaneiit guanliau of the cow. The 
Colonel now received what he imagined was his full 
(iuantity. About the qiuility, it seems, he had not 
bothered himself much, and he was kept entirely 
ignorant of Tommy's generous contributions to the 
comforts of his company, one mess after another. 
One day the portion given to oiir mess looked ndher 
sickly. It was suspiciously bluish und thin. When 
Tommy's attention was drawn to its consistency he 
nearly fainted. " Och, sure,"' said lie, '' an' I brought 
the wrong jug. Sure, yees have the Colonel's milk." 
Tommy had first divided the yield, and then added 
water to the Colonel's share, and had been giving us 
the pure article. Next day, the Colonel, having 
noticed the change, made an investigation, but by 
some hook or crook Tommy got out of it. I have for- 
gotten the exact way he did it, but I do remember 
that it Avas for some time a standing joke. I never 
knew Tommy to be afraid of anything in front (he 
would as lief go to sleep on outpost as anywhere else), 
but from the time of the milk fraud he was very much 
afraid of Colonel Sherman. Our Orderly or First 
Sergeant was named Kent, and he was quite a speci- 
men of his kind. To his superiors he was everything 
low, but toward those below him in his petty rank he 
was all above. When entering the army he had left a 
position as factotum of the rich Mr. Gridley, who had 
bestowed his name upon the prairie town he hailed 



72 XAEIIATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

from, and of course ho lieiicled the "gang" from that 
place. Here I would ho understood as saying that 
there was no animosity existing between what we 
called "cliques." The feeling never went beyond the 
first shade of jealousy, and oftener was restricted to a 
gentle emuhition. Qj-derly Sergeant Kent was a 
short, stout man, of perhaps forty-five to forty-eight 
years of age. He had a bullet-shaped head, covered 
sparsely with light red hair, but he wore a full heavy 
beard and whiskers. He would never object to become 
a partaker in any of the spoils of "gobbling," but 
neither he nor "my son Theodore" was ever known to 
incur any of the responsibility or dangers of that 
wo]-k. Only one thing I remember of liim that was 
humorous in any degree, and so that he might have 
full justice I will record it here. One time he appeared 
closely shaved, with a face as innocent of hair as a 
newly born baby's, although up to that time he had 
worn an uncommonly heavy beard. When his new 
appearance was alluded to he answered that "Other 
men might have their own ideas as to cleanliness, but 
as for me I have made it a rule to wash my face at 
least once a year. The anniversary has just arrived, 
and to comply with the rule it has become necessary 
for me to shave my face " ; and he immediately assumed 
an air as if he was a fanatically inclined hydropathist. 
Of the rest of our company I remember but little. 
Theodore Kent, the son of the Orderly Sergeant, was 
a tall young fellow of perhaps the same age as myself. 
He, of course, never lost sight of the exalted rank of 
his father. With him the whole war was a family 
matter. He was wounded in the foot at the battle of 



'W;0BJ5LIXG." io 

Murfreesboru'. George Hodiu'v was a tall, ra\v-l)o!icMl 
Englishman, and, according to the (Jolonel, wa.'S a 
great coward. He furnished an illustration to xVssist- 
iint-Surgeon llankiii when the ])octor praised the 
endarancL^ of small men on the march as compared 
with that of large men. Ike Crawford was an over- 
grown, jolly prairie boy, and his bosom friend, II. 
]>uri-, had the i)roper temperament to restrain him 
from o-oiiio- too far in his devilment. Lorenzo Martin 
was another of whom 1 have some recollection. Also 
in the regiment was Alfred Kogers, who was literally 
II "white man." He was English. He had white 
hair, white eyes, and a very white skin. I may have 
something more to say of him hereafter. 

Now as to the term "gobbling" that I have nsed, it 
may be necessary for me to give some definition. In- 
deed, I doubt very much whether any one who has not 
seen service will be able to understand the term with- 
ont it. The word as I give it is not to be found in 
liny of the staaidard dictionaries. I may therefore Ije 
allowed to state in relation to It that in every mess of 
live or six soldiers there was to be found one or more 
experts in foraging for provisions and other necessaries 
and luxuries not provided for In the regulation 
" ration" or camp ec[ulpage. A piece of butter, a jug 
of milk, a frying pan, or a coffee pot, besides turkeys, 
geese, and chickens, were all alike luxuries to the sol- 
diers, and it was the duty of the "gobblers" to procure 
them when needed. In some messes whiskey or the 
peach brandy or ai)ple jack of the country was very 
welcome. This was often done by purchase or trade, 
but whether or no, such things were had— literally 



ii ^AKUATiX E UF A I'KIVATE .SULDIER. 

" ii'obbk'd." oi' lalu'ii a\v;i\' without liuedino- the owii- 
er's dissent, oi' caring" for his opinion as to what the 
jH'ice ou,u-ht to he'. 'IMiat was '• go]jl)lin_u- " as I iinder- 
stood it. 

2. We remained in the neighborhood of Crab 
Orcluird for some days, and nntil every fence rail had 
disappeared in the making of camp fires. Then we 
started on a^ counternnircli toward Sta nford, Ijut we 
did not go into the town. Just as we drew near to 
Sta nford onr orders directed us across the country. 
Down went a fence as if l)y magic, and Ave moved into 
the most beautiful beach foi'cst I have ever seen in my 
life. There must surely have been thousands upon 
thousands of acres in it. AH the trees seemed to be as 
like one another as soldiers in a line, and apparently 
they were of the stime age and size. There was no 
undergrowth of brush, and the smootli-barked trees 
slu)t up like so nuiuy giants of the sands, and were 
I'anged in such a nnmner as almost to suggest scientific 
regularity. Underneath was thick grass of a peculiarly 
beautiful green color, over which we marched as if 
upon a velvet carpet. From this forest we emerged 
in due time, and got upon the high road near Lancas- 
ter. On reaching our place of bivouac we found it to 
be a large field of stubble. As we were without 
tents, it became our greatest care to protect our 
precious bodies from the night cold. We were 
drawn up in a line of l)attle, and the commands 
giAcn, 'SStack arms," ^'Unsling knapsacks,*' ''Break 
Kanks.*' No sooner was the last order given than each 
company, leaving a guard over its line, the rest broke, 
pell-mell, like a flock of sheep, for the fences, and in 



SALLTlXt. J)ANV1LJ,J:, KJ;X'U(K\. i5 

an incredibly short spat'c of linii' llic IV] i(c\^ wore de- 
molished, and the dry cedar rails of which they Avere 
conii)osed were doing- good service as fires in front of 
the line, and upon which su})i)er was being cooked. 
During the i)rocess of cooking, the regular ''gobblers " 
had descried afar off, on the top of a small hill, several 
stacks of what looked like straw, and very soon after 
the knoll to the right of ns and about half a mile 
away in*esented a scene as if a thousand overloaded 
tumble-bugs were at work. 8ome were going up 
emi-)ty and running, and others were coming down 
with loads of unthrashed grain upon their heads and 
backs. On this occasion it was a shameful waste ; for 
what we used for bedding was splendid oats in sheaves. 
During the next day or two we reached Danville, but 
we were not permitted to have more than a view of 
the city. We supposed it was because we were nearer 
to headquarters now than w^e had been at Crab 
Orchard. The army saluted the city by forming into 
})arade column, and with arms at support, colors up, 
and bands playing, we marched along the main road 
that skirted the city on its northern side. About a 
mile or so beyond we halted on the Lebanon Pike 
road and went into camj). This camp w^as made 
memorable on account of the fact that a full ration of 
fresh beef was dealt out to the army. A great many 
of the men had now^ given out. The heavy marching, 
aided by the irregular diet and constant exposure, bad 
given them all sorts of diseases, and while we were 
encamped not far from Lebanon Junction, on the 
Louisville and Nashville railroad, those wdio were so 
sick as in the judgment of the medical staff to be 



T6 XAKJLVTIVE OF A i IIIVATE ^JOLDIER. 

unfit to ])iu-8iT0 the iirirc'li, w -re sent off to the various 
hospitals in Louisville, Kentucky, and Jeffersouville, 
Indiana ; and those whom we had left behind in those 
places came uj) with us ; among such was Volney 
Weaver, of <nn- comirduy. While wt. w^ere near 
Lebanon Junction, too, snow began to fall, and we 
suffered very much from the lack of tents. The 
snow as it fell was soft, and made the ground sloppy 
and uncomfortable ; for we had to lie dowai on the 
naked, newly ploughed land. Near Newniarket our 
mess huddled together within the angle of a rail 
fence, and contrived to cut some branches of trees to 
protect us from above, but our device was very un- 
successful. During one night the rain and melted 
snow fell upon us so much through our imperfect cov- 
ering that when we got up in the early morning we 
found we had been lying in a pool of muddy water, 
and our blankets and clothing were both in a most 
disagreeable condition. Kow w^e started on another 
grand race. Bragg had entered Tennessee by the w^iy 
of the mountains, and was posting for Xashville as 
fast as his army could follow him. Nashville w^as 
already besieged, and its garrison reduced to consider- 
able straits. General Negley, the commander of the 
Federal forces at that place, had had his supply route 
entirely cut off by the enemy's cavalry under Generals 
Wheeler and Forrest, and now Bragg might bring his 
whole army and reduce the city with its rather slender 
garrison. There was a railroad running direct from 
Louisville, on the Ohio river, to Nashville, on the Cum- 
berland river, but the enemy had broken it in several 
places. A guard of raw troops from Indiana, which 



FOKDIXG GREEN RIVER, KENTUCKY. 77 

liad been jUaced at Muiiifoi'dsvillc foi' tlie protection 
of the railroad bridge at that point, had been captured 
before we moved from Louisville, and the structure 
destroyed. Tliis also interfered with the issue of ra- 
tions to us ; we were oftentimes very shoi't, and liad 
to rely upon the very scanty resources of the country 
through which we marched. When we arrived at 
Green river our whole army was compelled to wade it, 
which was done at a deep ford not far from where the 
bridge had been, and to the east of its late site. The 
water was nearly three feet in depth, and nniny of our 
soldiers were disabled in consequence of the event. 
We passed on, however, in reasonably good order, and 
travelled south, now on the railroad, now miles from 
it, and again crossing it, as our route led us. We 
finally got upon the "State road," the making of 
which, we were told, was a masterpiece of Henry 
Clay's statesmanship. Through deserted villages and 
past ruined farmhouses, joking the while with the 
grinning negroes who straddled the fences, we went 
on until in due time we reached Bowling Green, and 
we went into bivouac about a mile west of the rail- 
road. I am pretty sure that the place is not so well 
entitled to its name now as it was when we were there. 
Then it was indeed a ''green," and ''bowling" too. I 
understand there is a town there now ; then, there was 
nothing but a lot of ruins of burnt houses, and a tem- 
porary building erected where the railroad depot might 
formerly have been, and that was used as a commis- 
sary depot. The country around was wild and 
uncouth, rough and muddy, but perhaps that was 
owing to the season of the year we visited it. We 



78 XARUATiVE OF A i'KlVATE SOLDIER. 

here received our tents again, and retained tliem until 
the advance on Murfreesboro'. There was something 
of great importance going on at Bowling Green, and 
we were regularly mustered, but what it was we could 
not tell. It was on toward the first of November, and 
many thought the muster was for pay. We re- 
mained there perhaps in all two or three days, and 
then started on our march again. When ,we reached a 
place called Michellville, in Kentucky, the secret came 
out, and we tlien knew tliat Major General Eosecrans 
liad assumed command of our army in the place and 
stead of General BuelL Tliis was generally hailed as 
a happy cliange, but why, I never could learn, and I 
supposed it was only because General Buell was liked 
less than a man the army did not know, and besides, 
it is notorious that soldiers are great lovers of change. 
We then passed through many more deserted places, 
amongst which I remember Tybee Springs, a sort of 
fashionable resort. Soon afterward we struck the 
State line, and amongst numerous others I too strad- 
dled the square stone monument which marked the 
l)oundary line between the two States. It was the 
thing to so sit that one should have a leg dangling in 
either State. 

3. On the 6th of November we reached a point 
within striking distance of Nashville, and the siege or 
blockade of that city was raised. Next day (the 7th) 
we marched in good order and pitched our camp at 
Edgefield, a suburb or sister city of the capital. 
Edgefield is situated on the north bank of the Cum- 
berland river, and is built upon a comparatively low, 
swampy, flat stretch of land. On the other side of 



A GPtAXD FORAY. 79 

tiio river is Xashville, towci-iiig far a))uvc, 1:)eiiig built 
on very high bluffs. Our eanip was in a beautiful 
place, and not far from the river, and the vvbolo army 
generally improved the o})portunity thus afforded of 
cleansing their bodies and clothing. We were not 
very short of rations, as I can remember, but it seems 
that the cavalry and artillery were sadly in need of 
forage for their animals because of the difficulty of 
transportation from Louisville, which still remained 
our base of supplies. Two days after our arrival at 
Edgefield a heavy foraging expedition was organized, 
of which the Fifteenth Missouri Infantry, the Eighty- 
sixth Illinois Infantry,and our regiment together formed 
the greatest part. There were at least two thousand 
infantry, besides some cavalry and two small howitzers, 
all under command of our Colonel. Of course, as 
usual, we, the men, w^ere entirely ignorant of our 
mission, and we remained so until we h.ad proceeded 
some distance to the west and on a road that ran 
parallel with and close to the north bank of the river. 
Here we were halted to allow a long train of empty 
army Avagons to get into a ji roper i^osition. Into them 
we were placed, ten or twelve men in each wagon. 
Tlien we started again, and had gone about five miles 
or more when our route led ns into a thick forest and 
through a dense undergrowth of brush and bushes. 
Our fatigue party now had work to perform. Axes 
w^ere procured and put to employment ; trees were 
felled and the underbrush cleared to one side so as to 
make a sort of road for our expedition. Most of the 
infantry were ordered to pile their arms into the 
wagons, and to assist the mules to move the wagon 



80 NARK ATI VE OF A PKIVATE SOLDIER. 

wheels over the singiihir road as the fatigue party pro- 
gressed with its work. This was indeed very hard 
labor, and our expedition made but slow headway. 
The fatigue party making the road were assisted by 
frequent details from the body of the infantry troops. 
Several times onr advanced troops were fired upon by 
straggling groups of the enemy's cavalry, but as they 
were in no considerable force, we were in no danger 
whatever of any serious collision. AYhen we had 
travelled a considerable distance and climbed a wooded 
mount, we reached our objective point, and emerged 
into a large land bowl of nearly circular shape and 
perhaps two miles in diameter. All around the rim 
Avere the dense Avoods we had forced, except only on 
the southerly side, Avhich had for a bound the great 
river; but the bluffs there were so high as to render 
the place totally inaccessible fi'om that side. Within 
the enclosure there were several well cultivated farms, 
having good, substantial, comfortable looking houses 
and appurtenances. The Avhole appeared to be a set- 
tlement of so many families, who had for some 
particular reason thus chosen to isolate themselves 
from the outside world. Here there Avere no evidences 
of Avar's desolation : not a fence rail out of place, nor 
a straAv stack touched, nor a road turned up. As Ave 
descended the slope of the approach to this scene of 
conserA^ative civilization, the command Avas given to 
'^file right and left" from the centre, and soon the 
immense train of empty Avagons was placed in some 
fields, Avhile the AAdiole basin was surrounded by armed 
men. It seems that this beautiful spot had been 
doomed to utter despoliation. It had been a depot o1 



GATHERIXG PLUXDER. 81 

supplies and a })lace of retreat for tlie predatory forces 
that had so worried General Negley during the Ijlock- 
ade. The farmers must have been warned of our 
coming, for we found all the i)ig-pens em})ty and tlie 
stables and stock 3'ards nearly so, but what was very 
significant, the bars or gates were all down or open. 
The men not actually on duty, aj^jiarently fully aware 
of the design the farmers had in turning out the stock, 
posted off to the woods, and forming large circles, 
they gradually drew closer and closer, until they suc- 
ceeded in catcliing, as it were in a net, a numerous lot 
of fat hogs, sheep, horses, and some few milcli cows. 
The pigs were immediately despatclied with the mus- 
ket, and, if the brutes did not die fast enough, there 
was no compunction exhibited as the men severed the 
hams from the still quivering trunks — the rest of the 
carcass was left to rot. Meanwhile the contents of 
the granaries belonging to tlie various farms were 
emptied into the wngons : corn, wlieat, oats, in sheaf 
and otherwise, hay, straw, and, what was very highly 
esteemed, a large lot of corn fodder, or leaves of corn 
that had been cured very much as hay is cured. But 
the enterprise of the pork hunters had resulted in the 
making of an unexpected discover3\ As one of the 
several parties was hunting pigs they were led by the 
prey far into the deep woods, and there they found an 
immense corn crib, containing, it was said, more than 
three thousand bushels of the precious article. The 
commanding officer was soon informed of the discovery, 
and very quickly the unfilled wagons and those only 
partially filled were sent to the place. One disclosure 
led to another, until no less than five such depots were 



XAIIRATiVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

f r.ii!.]. aM<! ill a short time every available wagon was 
i'.W? I 1 ) its utmost capacity. The well beaten ground 
',v which each crib was surrounded left no room to 
c[;)ubt tliat wliat we had fallen in with were provisions 
i tored f(n* the use of the guerilla bands of cavalry of 
the enemy, lately in tlie neighborhood. Tlie farmers 
liaving denied all knowledge of the existence of more 
forage than was within the honest view, of course re- 
ceived no certificates from the quartermaster and com- 
manding ofHcer for the corn found in the woods. 
That night we bivouacked on the premises, but in an 
extra guarded manner, to prevent any kind of sur- 
prise, and early the next morning, having cast our 
blight upon what was so fair the day before, we started 
on our return march to Edgefield. That was rather a 
jolly tramp. On nearly every wagon were piled or 
hung dead hogs, sheep, venison, poultry of all kinds, 
and even hares that some of the men had caught. 
Tied to a wagon, was the Colonel's new milch cow, and 
as I was on duty as an orderly for him on that expedi- 
tion, I had an opportunity to see and note that he was 
in a continual state of anxiety over that cow until it 
was safely haltered to a tree at the rear of regimental 
headquarters. We reached our camp in due time, and 
without having suJGCered a single casualty that I heard 
of, excepting the loss of one man of the Eight3^-sixth 
Illinois Infantry, who was killed by the falling of a 
rotten tree as we were going out. We received flatter- 
ing commendations on our success. For the next few 
days there was high carnival of fresh meat and game 
in our camp. After remaining in this place about a 
week longer, Ave again. struck tents, and took up our 



THKOL'GII XASIIVILLE TO MILL CREEK. <So 

line of mjircli over the bi"idLi\' into Na^liville, und ont 
again on the Nolansville pike road, and there we en- 
camped on Mill creek, a])out five nTdes from the city. 
I visited Nashville various iinie<, and went into several 
of the different forts by wliich the approaclies were 
gnarded and defended. Fort Constitntion or Fort 
Confiscation stood on an eminence called ''Constitu- 
tion Hill,*' on our right and rear and overlooking the 
Franklin road, which led to the south. Long lines of 
cotton in bales had been so disposed as to form breast- 
works in different directions, but the lines were now 
broken, and the cotton had been taken away by friends 
and foes in al)0iit equal pro})ortions. It appears that 
when the city was blockaded General Negley had 
proclaimed a sort of martial law, and had seized upon 
all the cotton he could find for defensive i)urposes, and 
the soldiers and citizens had vied witli one another in 
the task of hiding a !)ale here and a ))ale thei-e. in out- 
of-the-way places ; dark cellars, empty houses, and 
neg'ro shanties were laro-ely used. Bed ticks were 
stuffed with the staple, not for the exclusive purpose 
of having a comfortable rest, but as a convenient 
jdace to hide a few dollars worth of the stolen goods. 
This proved that all had confidence in the ultimate 
raising of the siege, and that they also had a lively 
idea of the value of cotton as a provider of something 
substantial after tlie blockade was over. Much of this 
stolen property was secured by Government officers 
appointed for that purpose, but the soldiers mostly 
succeeded in getting rid of their plunder by selling it 
to citizens, and it was the latter class that got into 
trouble upon the investigations that were made. Our 



84 XAKKATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

camp on Mill creek was in a pleasant place, on a high 
wooded hill, and not far from the road. That is to 
say, it was pleasant enough after the whole regiment 
had worked on fatigue duty upon it for a few days. 
Trees were cut down, and streets made for company 
quarters and a broad avenue ])etween them and head- 
quarters for dress parade. The enemy's lines were not 
very far to our front, and we began to realize that 
outpost duty in November and December months was 
not a very pleasurable business. The lines were often 
so close that cavalry videttes were dispensed with, and 
so the extreme outpost duty fell to us of the infantry. 
We were frequently on duty for thirt3^-six hours with- 
out relief, but as we were in groups of four or five to- 
gether, it was not minded very much. We made 
several recognizances in force from this camp, and 
upon one occasion drove the enemy through Nolans- 
ville, and succeeded in capturing a few of their caval- 
rymen, and we came across a lot of empty packing 
cases. These latter vv^ere of European make and 
marks, and had evidently contained clothing, boots 
and shoes, etc., that had just been distributed to the 
Southern troops. I ought to have mentioned in the 
proper place that at the battle of Chaplin Hills or 
Perry ville I noticed that some of the enemy were 
armed in a superior manner, with weapons of English 
make. The balls were peculiarly formed, and each 
one had a triangular-shaped indentation at the butt. 
It was while we were encamped at Mill creek that the 
following incident occurred. It must be remembered 
that coffee was an article of the extremest scarcity 
within the enemy's lines. The real genuine article 



ANOTHER OF CORRIGAX's TRICKS. 85 

wus not to bo hud for lovo nor money, und as soon as 
we extended our lines we found that the natives would 
barter almost anything for a small quantity of the 
jiromatic luxury. Even the coarse refuse of our camp- 
kettles was eagerly sought for and in a manner snatched 
up by the famished residents. One day Tommv Cor- 
rigan came to canij) and rei)orted that he knew of a 
man living not far away who had plenty of good butter. 
On this it was i)roposed that an enterprise should be 
immediately undertaken to procure some of that 
luxury for oui* messes, and so, after providing them- 
selves with a small quantity of the necessary coffee 
(for coffee was a better tender than money), several of 
the men, headed by Tommy, started off. On reaching 
the house the native bartered in good 'style, but failed 
to hide his real eagerness when the coffee was displayed 
to his view, and he soon closed the bargain — a pound 
of butter for a small tin cui)ful of the brown berries. 
He took the coffee and [)laced it in a receptacle within 
a closet, and then proceeded outside and to a cellar to 
procure the butter. Meantime one of the soldiers 
quickly possessed himself of the coffee just delivered, 
and put it into his haversack, which he passed to an- 
other of the men, one who had said nothing, and who 
was apparently not of the party. Tommy Corrigan, 
having secured his butter, left for camp. The receiver 
of the stolen coffee now commenced to dicker, and 
after the usual bartering, an agreement was entered 
into. Fortunately for the man, the native was over 
cautious, for he put his second purchase of coffee in 
another hiding place, and so failed to discover the 
trick, and the first rogue got his butter. It was said 



86 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

at the time that the game was successfully played for 
two or tliree times more, but all beyond what I have 
said may be attributed to the imagination of those 
who gave it out. In this camp too there vyas some- 
thing serious very nearly happening to over a hundred 
of the men. All straggling away from camp lines had 
been strictly prohibited, and more especially absence 
at night. Going away at night on private foraging 
expeditions had become so great an evil that guards 
were sent abroad to capture any soldiers found away 
from their quarters without special leave. One night 
(the evening before Tlumksgiving) the Colonel was in- 
formed that over a hundred men were absent after 
"taps," and he ordered a company to turn out as a 
provost guard- and to capture and bring in all strag- 
glers that might be found. It may here be said that 
I never knew of a regiment of soldiers that did not 
have one company that was in a manner hated by the 
re§t. It generally happened that such a company was 
called upon to perform what the soldiers designated 
as ''dirty work." The nickname of such a company, 
bestowed upon it l)y the rest of the regiment, was 
usually more expressive than elegant. It was this 
company of our regiment that the Coloiiel had ordered 
out to arrest the boys as they returned from their 
several "gobbling" expeditions. x\bout midnight 
the guard returned, after having skirmished far and 
near and succeeded in capturing nearly fivescore of the 
marauders. The whole presented a ludicrous scene as 
the procession, strongly guarded, moved into the 
parade ground, a motley throng of guilty looking 
fellows. Some had dead chickens, others geese ; one 



THE COLONELS FILTHY HAKAXGUE. Si 

had a live goose, which he vainly sh'ove to ])rc'VL'iit 
from cackling, thrown over liis sh(»nlder; otlierrf were 
in pairs, and upon a fence rail they carried between 
them was slung a bhiwket tied by the four corners, and 
the thus im})rovised l)ag filled with potatoes, yams, 
and such like plunder. The whole lot were at last 
rano-ed in a semicircle in front of regimental head- 
quarters, and very soon tlie Colonel came out of his 
tent. He had already retired for the night, and when 
he appeared he wore nothing but his underclothing. 
These were of scarlet flannel, and in the flickering 
lights he looked very much the ideal Indian chief, 
"heap mad." How he did give it to the unhappy 
prisoners I Cowards, thieves, scoundrels, prefixed by 
a selection of the most florid adjectives, were of the 
mildest of his terms of reproach and denunciation. It 
was said rather boastingly by his friends and admirers 
at the time of his assassination by General Jeff. C. 
Davis, that General Xelson was ''the biggest tighter 
and the tallest swearer in the army," but if he excelled 
Colonel Sherman m the last mentioned accomplished 
vice, he must indeed have been a most liorribly jn'o- 
fane and foul-mouthed man, and, barring the manner 
of his taking off, it was good riddance when he was 
killed. After a filthy harangue the Colonel regretted 
that his orders were to send the prisoners to brigade 
headquarters, and thus the punishment was not for 
him to pronounce ; and he concluded by directing the 
commander of the guard to conduct the prisoners to 
Colonel Grisel's quarters. This was hailed with joy 
by the hitherto crestfallen captives, for they well 
knew that Colonel Grisel had a disposition much dif- 



88 XAIIRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

ferent from that their own commuiuler had exhibited. 
In a short time the procession reached brigade head- 
quarters, and the body gnard were wonderfull}' 
astonished at the untimely visitation, and hallooed 
and challenged as if the enemy in force had entered 
the camp. At last there was heard above all else the 
most terrible of oaths and cursings. It was from the 
acting brigade commander ; but Avhen he emerged 
from his tent he burst out into a violent fit of laughter 
and cursings mixed together. The guards were cursed 
for disturbing him in his sleep and he laughed at the 
predictament the prisoners were in. He finished after 
some time by directing the guard to dismiss the pris- 
oners, whom he counselled not to be ^* caught" again, 
and he ordered all to be ready to go with him on a 
recognizance in force at an early liour that morning. 
Tliis disposition A^as fortunate for the *' gobblers," 
because General Slieridan, our division commander, had 
a regularly organized provost-guard which he kept busy 
in the enforcement of discipline, and it would prob- 
ably liave fared very hnrd with them if they had been 
passed to his headquarters. Sure enough, we did go 
on a recognizance in force early that morning, and 
that was the last we heard of the scrape. 

5. At this camp too the Thirty-sixth regiment 
(Colonel Grisel's own) had an opportunity to show its 
mettle. The regiment had been without a sutler ever 
since it left Louisville (I do not remember that our 
regiment ever liad one), and now their regular store- 
keeper appeared witli two or three large wagons filled 
with different kinds of goods. The men had either 
got rid of all their money oi- were unwilling to spend 



THE THIKTY-SIXTII ILLINOIS OX 1T8 31ETTLE. 8'J 

what tliey were possest^ed of, and I lieard l)eside.s that 
they harbored a grudge Mgninst th.eir sutler. Tliis, 
however, did not prevent n hirge nuniljer of the soldiers 
from offering their services in assisting in the work of 
unloading the wagons, and as soon as a large chai)el- 
tent had been raised, they were busily engaged in 
transferring from the wagons to the tent, boxes of 
crackers, boots and shoes, tobacco, canned fruit, etc. 
Somehow or other, a hirge quantity of the stuff that 
Wiis carried in at the front found its way out at the 
rear, wjiere ready and willing hands took whole pack- 
ages and quickly conveyed them to the company 
quarters. This was discovered, after a while, but not 
before hundreds of dollars' worth of goods had been 
taken away. The search for the purloined articles 
was both fruitless and dangerous. Next day the 
men of the Thirty-sixth Illinois were diligently 
engaged in card-i^laying. One man would be pos- 
sessed of an odd shoe, and after finding a com- 
rade having the mate of it, both would engage in 
play to decide between them who should have the 
completed pair. Otlier stakes were also put up; for 
instance, a can of i)eaches preserved in brandy against 
two pairs of stockings, a plug of tobacco against a lot 
of soft crackers, and so on, until it was laughable to 
see theway in which the men disposed of the ^^lunder. 
I believe the whole regiment, guilty and innocent 
alike, were compelled to pay the sutler after all by a 
per capita tax assessed at the next pay-day, which oc- 
curred soon after. At this camp the men suffered for 
lack of money ; coffee was about the only means of 
trade; a cupful of grains was the ''dollar" of the 



90 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

soldiers, and the value of almost eveiytliiiig obtaina- 
ble in the way of provisions was ganged by that. We 
had been regnlarly mnstered for pay on the first of 
November, and it Avas amnsing to hear the exclama- 
tions of delight as a rumor came out that the paymas- 
ter Avas near; every carriage was scanned for liim, and 
it was equally interesting to behold the chagrin and 
dejection exhibited on the faeces of the men as the 
falsity of the various rumors became apparent. At 
last, however, about a week before Christmas Day, the 
purse-holder came along, and the stringency in money 
)natters was relaxed ; the men got funds to send liome, 
to wager at cards, purchase little luxuries, and for 
such other uses as the fancy of each dictated. 

6. About this time a change took place in our com- 
mand, and General Sill, of Ohio, became our briga- 
dier. One cold, clear, frosty morning we were ordered 
out for general inspection and field exercise. We went 
out in full marching order until we reached a large 
cotton-field to the rear and left of our line, where the 
brigade formed in good style and executed several 
manoeuvres under tlie command of Colonel Grisel. 
We were then formed into order of inspection, open 
ranks and officers to the front. General Sill now ap- 
peared, and was accompanied by his staff of officers 
and body guard. At the proper signal Colonel Grisel, 
in a thundering tone which was reverberated from the 
w^oods behind us, gave the command, "Present, Arms! '* 
and the order was finely executed ; every arm was j^re- 
sented and sword-point dropped at the same instant. 
At this moment General Sill should have gracefully 
saluted by raising his hat ; but he did not, and Colonel 



GENERAL SILL OUR BRIGADIER. 1)1 

Grisel yelled out so (hut we phiiiily heard, •' Why in 
hell don't 3^011 salute ?" The General paid no heed to 
the question, if he lieard it at all; hut when presenting 
arms had nearly tired us an aide-de-camp rode up to 
Colonel Grisel, and hy the latter we were at once 
jdaced into column for review, and marched past the 
General's position. This was the prelude to our 
movement forward, and tlie army hailed it witli delight 
as promising a change from the incessant drilling, 
picket duty, and monotonous camp life ; besides, the 
men knew that the enemy was not far off, and those 
who had never met him were eager to show their 
prowess, while those who had were equally jinxious to 
pay off old scores. On the whole, the men were in 
excellent spirits and of lively dispositions, and these 
generally desirable qualities were demonstrated at 
times in a very robust manner. According to the 
stories of the }danters in the neighl)orhood, our men 
had stolen their horses and mules (negroes had 
ceased to concern them, because it was close on to the 
day fixed by the Emancipation Proclamation for the 
complete freedom of the blacks) ; but according to 
the understjinding of the ofiicers and men in whose 
custody or under whose control such animals were 
found, they had been lawfully taken, either by 
confiscation in the fortunes of war or had been 
sequestered by the Quartermaster's Department, and 
duly receipted for, upon which receipt the Gov- 
ernment was supposed to pay. Upon the presentation 
of a very flagrant case, however, the higher authorities 
gave the original owners permission to search for their 
property, and when they succeeded in finding it an 



92 XAKi;.VTLVE UF A PEIVATE SOLDIER. 

investig';tti()ii was li;id and the animals restored if such 
action was deemed right. In this way many liorses and 
mules were returned to their former owners, but by 
far the greatest numljer were so secreted and changed 
in appearance, that no matter how sharp were the 
eyes of those in search of them, they Avere not discov- 
ered. It was most laughable to see the chagrin of old 
men as they hunted fi'om regiment to regiment for 
their property. The men would misdirect them, and 
when the poor old men reached the place designated 
and asked if their mules had been seen, they were 
told, "John Morgan's got your mule." Then a mis- 
chievous soldier would call out, "Old man, here's 
your mule," and when the citizen had hurried to the 
spot he was answered as before. John Morg^in was a 
noted free-rider on the side of the South, but he got a 
great deal of a name that he was not fairly entitled to. 
Not only were citizens thus made sport of, but if an 
officer or orderly chanced to be disliked or unpopular, 
and in many cases whether or no, he would be 
hallooed to as he galloped along, and advised to "grab 
a root," or to ''hold on to the saddle." The officer or 
orderly would become mortified, and oftentimes act as 
if he was really in danger of falling off his horse. 
Then the men would laugh. Rank rarely secured ex- 
emption, but the mischievous soldiers would give their 
advice under cover of a tent or from amongst a ci'owd 
when it was addressed to a more exalted person. Also 
about this time I severed my active connection as a 
private of the company, and against the remonstrances 
of my Captain, I was detailed as a "Bugler," and 
attached to regimental head([uarters. 



CHAPTER IV. 

COKTAIKS AJs^ ACCOUXT OF THE AJJVAXCE ON THE 
ENEMY BETWEEN NASHVILLE AND MURFREES- 
BORO', AND INCLUDES THE BATTLE OF STONE 
RIVER AS FAR AS I PARTICIPATED IN IT — THE 
NARRATIVE BEGINNING ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 
1862, AND ENDING ON THE 31ST DAY OF DE- 
CEMBER, 1862, WHEN I FOUND MYSELF A PRIS- 
ONER OF WAR IN THE HANDS OF THE SOUTHERN 
FORCES. 

1. On Christmas morning avg luid received our 
orders, and were ready. We had all written to our 
friends in the North, many for the last time ; we had 
exchanged our line 'SSibley" tents for the new ^^ shel- 
ter tents " ; the money (two dollars per man) that the 
General Governtnent allowed as an enlistment pre- 
mium, and which had been retained by our company 
patron and by him expended, had come back to us in 
the shape of an excellent rubber blanket apiece. On 
the morning of the great Christian festival we broke 
camp and made an advance of about a mile, where we 
established a strong outpost and went no further. 



94 XAHHATiVE OF A PKIVATE SOLDIHlt. 

It Wiis said that General Kosecrans was not ready. He 
was ^' a good Cluircliman/" and did not believe in 
fighting on Sunday nor in undertaking a movement on 
a holy day. This was the talk amongst the soldiers, 
and I only give it as such. Next day, however (the 
26th), we were on the march in earnest and full of 
fight. AVe were much lighter baggaged than we liad 
previously been, and we met the enemy before we were 
an hour from camp. Our division (Sheridan's) Avent 
through IN^olansville with a rush. I luid just time to 
notice that Nolansville consisted of about half a dozen 
miserable shanties. The most pretending seemed as 
if it might have been a school-house, but the small 
sign over the door, with the legend, "TIPPLING 
HOUSE," upon it, dis])elled all such illusions. The 
road thence led up a long and steep hill, and as it got 
on toward the top it was wooded on either side. In 
the Avoods, and half a mile in advance of us, an Ohio 
regiment had a lively fight during the afternoon, and 
succeeded in driving the enemy, besides capturing 
two Englisli riiied cannon, a few horses, and several 
prisoners. The enthusiasm of the army was Avell 
nigh unbounded at this success so near the outset, 
and although Ave Avere formed into line of battle 
not far to the rear, Ave Avere envious of the regi- 
ment that had had the honor of being in 
front of us. That night Ave laid on our arms 
in an open field on the left of the road, and 
near the foot of the rising ground, but j^rotected in a 
measure by some heaA'y Avoods near us. The light, 
drizzling rain that had been falling all the afternoon, 
had increased to a torrent, but the excitement engen- 



FORWARD TO MCRFREESBORO'. 95 

dered by our iiroxiniity to the eiieiiiy .served well to 
keep u]) our si)irits. Beside.s this, our new jirrange- 
ments for camping were admirable. Two men slept 
together. One rubber sheet on the ground, and a 
woollen blanket on that, then another woollen blanket 
on top with the shelter tent and rubber on the out- 
side. In this numner the two men between were 
effectually protected. On the next day and the next 
we skirmished with the enemy continually, and our 
regiment came in for a good shai-e of the hard work. 
Our company being on one of the extremes of the 
line, it was usually deployed when skirmishing duty 
was demanded, and so I had plenty of opportunity for 
using my bugle. The road we were on had a macad- 
amized bed, and would have been a good one to travel 
upon had it not been for the excessively wet weather ; 
as it was, the surface, in level places, Avas nearlv ankle 
deep in licjuid limestone. On Saturday night it was 
repoi'ted that the enemy had changed front and formed 
his new lines in another direction, between Stone river 
and the town of Murfreesboro'. It had been raining 
all day, and the night promised to be only murkier 
and gloomier than the wearisome day had been, and 
when we ascended the hill on the right of the road, 
the men felt in any but elevated sj)irits. Just as we 
had received orders to stack arms in the place selected 
for our bivouac, the sky cleared just above the western 
horizon, and for about the space of half-a-minute the 
sun appeared in indescribably great glory — then van- 
ished. This was instantly taken as a good omen, and 
the drooping spirits of the soldiers rose at once, and 
the army gave a tremendous shout that rent the air ; 



96 NARRATIVE OP^ A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

the noise of that cry from the tens of tliousands of 
throats far exceeded the uproar of tlie great battle 
fought a few days after, and, as the shouting was re- 
echoed from the clouds, as it were, the incident was 
awe inspiring. It was a scene worthy of the haud of 
a master painter, Avhen the men in tired disorder 
turned, some with their arms yet in their hands, and 
others in the act of disengaging theniselves from the 
usual impediments, the whole scene illuminated with 
the peculiarly beautiful halo of tliat sunset, and the 
crimson light shining upon the animated faces of the 
men. This lasted, however, for only such a little 
while, and we sank upon the wet grass to rest our 
weary limbs, and to eat what was left of our three 
days' rations. The next morning (Sunday) was clear 
and cold, and we lieai-d with dismay that the enemy's 
cavalry under General Wheeler had intercepted and 
cut off our sujiply ti-ains from Nashville. It was 
again given out that General Rosecrans would not fol- 
low the new direction on Sunday, and we were to have 
rest. But rest without rations was not so good a thing 
as with them. Eai-ly in the morning an order was re- 
ceived by which each company commander was directed 
to send six men on a foraging expedition for his company. 
There was no doubt about this — it was the first legalized 
^* gobbling " that I had seen. In a wondrously short 
time after the order was received it was executed, and 
more than executed, with s})irit and alacrity. Instead 
of detailing six men out of each company to go out 
and procure provisions, most of the companies left 
just that number behind and no more, the rest going- 
out as ^^ foragers." Foraging is the name, I pre- 



LEGALIZED *'• G0BBLIXC4." 07 

siinie, when 1egalize(], and •• <i-(>!)!)lino- " \v!,en not. 
That is a plainer and more concise definition of the 
latter term tlian I nave in ili(> piwions eliaptei-, and I 
tliink myself justified in reeordin^- it here and aban- 
doning my former explanation. Of this partienlar 
expedition I ean only deseri])e the part taken by the 
sfpiad I happened to be with. We went, six or seven 
of us, througii tlie woods, over hills, across "bottoms," 
through helds, and over rivulets for a mile or more to 
our right and front, without meeting with any pros- 
pects of success. Then the incorrigible Tommy 
Corrigan, who was of our i)arty and some dist^mce in 
advance, by a loud exclamation told us that he was 
not far from a prize, and we saw at a distance of half 
or three quarters of a mile to the I'ight and still to the 
front, a large, substantial mansion and numerous out- 
buildings. We hastened our steps, and after clearing 
nnnnmbered ditches and fences, we entered a long 
lane in whicli we formed into line, with Tommy Cor- 
rigan on the right as undisputed commander. We 
soon reached the place, and, as an 'institution/' 
found it to be greater than many of the ''towns" we 
had passed throngh, although the latter generally 
boasted high-sounding names. The mansion itself 
was a large two-stoiy building of wood, and had the 
inevitable hall running through the centre of it, and 
an immense chimney built upon the outside on each 
end. The second story was almost an exact copy of 
the first. A sort of porch ran up to the roof, and the 
door leading into it from the second story was exactly 
like the front door below, even to the knocker. There 
were numerous outhouses, granaries, meat-houses. 



98 KAKKATIVE OF A PKIVATE SOLDIEK. 

stables, root-houses, and henneries on one side of the 
main strncture, and on the otlier a vilhige of negro 
huts lying low and irregular, like so man}^ smashed 
tiles. Before we got to the lawn entrance we met a 
negro man who was nearly scared to death. Corrigan, 
pointing his gun (which was empty) at the man, or- 
dered him to api)roach us, and he came toward our 
position fairly dancing with fear. From him we had 
a terrible tale. His master was a rebel of the deepest 
d}^. Only the night before he had cai)tured a 
^' Union soldier,'' and had conveyed him to Murfrees- 
boro', where the poor fellow was to be shot for being a 
^'spy." Tlie master was "cruel to his slaves" as 
well. He had shot or hung several of the negroes 
who had attemi)ted to run away. We now held a 
council of war, and liaving informed ourselves of the 
nature of the surroundings, as to the number of 
inmates, the locality of the provision stores, etc., we 
advanced toward the house. When we entered the 
hiAvn gate Ave saw^ a fat, jolly looking old planter stand- 
ing in the doorway of the house. He was perhaps 
sixty years of age, and appeared as if during the whole 
of that period he had lived upon the best that the 
land afforded. But he had a gun in his hand, and, as 
Tommy Corrigan drew his musket to his shoulder, he 
gave the command, "Drop that piece," and the 
" piece " was dropped as if it had been red hot. Then 
we advanced and seized the old gentleman. He was 
very belligerent — in fact, full of opj^osition — but we 
soon disarmed and set a guard over him, some distance 
away from the house. On ransacking the place we 
found the planter's wife and two daughters. They 



A SPECIMEX REBEL. 'Hi 

boastingly told us tliat the lin8l)aiKls of l)()tli of them 
were in the Soutlieni nnny, iind would revenge any in- 
jury we might do. We tried in vain to mul<e them 
understand our situation — that we were oidy after 
forage, and intended no harm to them personally. 
AVe could do nothing else than order them out, and 
place them under guard with the husband and father. 
On a closer ins})ection we discovei'cd that the un- 
cleansed dishes in the kitchen amounted to more 
than would ordinarily accrue from a meal of four 
persons, and this led to an examination of the old man. 
He insultingly boasted of his capturing the " Union 
spy," and threatened that before long the "Confeds" 
who had breakfasted with him that morning would 
return, and — well, if they had come then and accom- 
plished what he threatened, I never would have had 
this opportunity of writing. If the old man told the 
truth in his violence, he was the most brutal enemy I 
had yet met. He confessed to almost every offence a 
" War-Rebel '' could be charged with. A long opinion 
was delivered by an eloquent memlier of the Twenty- 
first Michigan who was of our party, and the 
result was the old man was given permission to 
take ten minutes and secure Avhat he wanted out 
of the house. This he refused to accept ; neither 
would the women secure anything. They were 
then bound, the negroes w^re ordered to the rear, 
and the plethoric meat-house was plundered. When 
we returned the provost guard took charge of 
our prisoners. Of the negroes we made beasts of 
burden, and they carried our plunder of corned hams, 
bacon, sausage, meat, potatoes, apples, etc. After a 



100 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

few day^^, and when I was a jirisoner in tlie hands of 
the enemy, I heard that the man whom the ^^l^nter 
had captured and sent into the town had been executed 
as a spy, or as a deserter, or something like that ; bnt 
I was afterward consoled by the information that the 
old man got his deserts as a '" War-Rebel" Avhen he 
had been in Nashville a little while. For hours on 
that afternoon and evening we were engaged in frying 
our meat and cooking the rest of our confiscated 
rations. 

2. Early on Monday morning, the 29th day of Decem- 
ber, 1862, we received orders to prepare to march. 
There Avas not much work to do in the way of jirepa- 
ration ; all our surplus meat had been cooked and 
packed away, and before sunrise the regiment had 
been told off by compjinies, knapsacks were packed, 
bayonets unfixed, and everything in readiness to start 
on our tramp. Now took ^^lace the preliminaries of a 
change of front. Our regiment filed into the road, 
and mai'ched and countermarched in the most admira- 
ble confusion, now forming in a field on the right 
hand in order to permit some other regiment to pass 
us, or to allow some flying battery of artillery to take 
its proper position, and again advancing and retreat- 
ing with no ascertainable object. Finally, after man- 
oeuvring for two or three hours in this manner, we 
were properly placed, and uj^on gaining a point about 
a mile or a mile and a half to the rear of our cam])ing 
ground of tlie night before, we struck oil from the 
road, on the northeasterly side of it, and plunged im- 
mediately into the midst of a dense growth of stunted 
cedars. There was no road, and as we went alono- like 



INTO A CEDAR FOREST. lUi 

a l)and of stragglers, all our guidance was for each one 
to follow Ills leader. A\'e were fi-e<iueutly coni})elled 
to stop, and in the wildest of places, owing to the 
inability of the troops in front to move with exi)edi- 
tion. There was not the least sign of civilization to 
be seen in any direction — nothing within our view but 
the closely growing cedars. In many i)laces the trees 
seemed to be growing uj^on the bare stones, and we 
saAV many narrow Init deej) crevices in the rocks — so 
deep that the rumbling of i)ebbles thrown into them 
Avas heard as they I'attled down the sides for manv 
seconds. About noon we had the first of several 
''scares," but all our fears were without sufficient 
cause, for no enemy could possibly be in a position to 
hurt us while we were so enclosed. We were now in 
the depths of a vast cedar forest. The men employed 
themselves during the halts in gathering and eating 
jnniper berries from off the trees. Many jokes passed 
jiround (Ui account of the 1)erries — '"These are used to 
make giu,'' etc. The atmosphere of the Avoods in 
some places Avas so impregnated Avith the aroma of the 
cedar as almost to make it unbearable. Late in the 
afternoon we met a detachment of onr trooi^s in charge 
of some prisoners Avho had been captured a short time 
before. The captives being anything but submissiv^e 
or docile, Ave Avere assured that they had not been 
captured by their own connivance ; they AA^ere no aa^I- 
ling stragglers ; and from thatAA^e argued that Ave AA^ere 
not far removed from an active enemy. I noticed 
that the rank and tile at once assumed solemn counte- 
nances. All hilarity ceased, and the ranks Avere kept 
closer, as AA^as always the case Avlien Ave Avere convinced 



103 NARH.VTIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

of our i)r()ximitv to danger, and from that time the 
march was conducted in a more reguhir manner. To- 
ward Jiightfall the order was given to halt, call a roll, 
and note to be made of absentees. This v/as obeyed, 
and then we moved on with close column, and soon 
after emerged from the funereal woods, crossed a few 
fields, and at last got upon a good macadamized road. 
This proved to be the Murfreesboro' pike-road, and 
we all felt as if a heavy burden had been removed from 
oiii- l^odies as we filed almost gayly on to the solid 
roadway. 

Here we formed again. There was work to be 
attended to immediately. We had not proceeded far 
when the shots Ave had previously heard were supple- 
mented by the sight of the men who had fired them. 
Just in our front was a strong skirmish line, formed 
of the Second regiment of Missouri Infantry, and it 
was engaging a like line of the enemy situated at no 
great distance beyond. We Avere quickly formed 
into line, under cover of a rail fence on the right 
of the road. Our regiment remained in this po- 
siticm for about half an hour, during Avdiich the 
rapid firing continued ; then Ave again formed 
into column left in front, and proceeded along very 
cautiously. We had received strict orders pro- 
hibiting the least noise, and about half-past scA^en 
o'clock Ave silently filed into a cornfield on the left of 
the road, and as Ave halted Ave Avere told to stack arms, 
sentries Avere placed, and Ave Avere alloAved to lie doAvn 
and rest. This was the most uncomfortable place Ave 
ever bivouacked in, not only because the knoAvn prox- 
imity of the enemy irritated us and kept the men 



THE COLONEL MAKES A SrEE( ML 1 U3 

restless, luif tlu' firM Imd hiit i-( ct'iulv ])vr\\ froslily 
plouo-lied. :iik1 the ruin rhnt bad fallen just before 
had made of the .oil a nasty, pasty \\\U(\ above ankle 
deep. Durinii- tlie uiii-ht we were frr(iuently ealled up 
to arms ))V the ominous "long I'oll " or the shrill 
blast of the •• assendjly.'' About ten o'eloek P. M. 
the Colonel ordered an insi)eetion and rei)ort of arms 
and ammunition, and the stock of death-dealing mu- 
nitions having been ascertained to be uncommonly 
low, the com])any commanders received a severe repri- 
mand. 

3. There was not much sleep all that night. We 
could see the glare of the enemy's camp fires not far 
to our front, and we frequently heard the rustling 
noise as of large bodies of troops moving from one 
place to another. The incessant whistling of locomo- 
tives and the continual rumbling of cars denoted that 
we were not far from the town of ^turfreesboro". and 
that unusual activity prevailed thei'e. Scmie miles to 
our left, so an aide-de-camp who had been lost in- 
formed us. our troops had had a severe engagement 
with the enemy, but the ]\[ichigan Regiment of Engi- 
neers and Mechanics had succeeded in destroying a 
railroad bridge at a place called Tri-nne. Long before 
daylight on Tuesday morning we perceived that imme- 
diately in front of us there was a line of earthworks 
that had been evacuated by the enemy the day before, 
and apparently in some considerable haste, because the 
Southerners had left behind them a number of articles, 
such as cedar- wood canteens, miniature lager-beer kegs, 
wooden spoons, and empty meal-bags. About daylight 
a final alignment was made, and the regiment was 



10-4 XARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

formed in douhle column by division on the colors. 
Then llie Colonel made a .speech to the soldiers. 
Said he : '* You are once again near the enemV; and 
more honored than you Avere upon the previous occa- 
sion, because you now have the immediate front. 
Already," said he, "you can hear the preparations for 
the battle ; all niglit you have been within plain view 
of the enemy's camp fires, and it only remains for you 
to advance this morning v.-ith exhibitions of your 
valor, so that by an early success we shall begin the 
work of a day that will end in a crowning victory," 
Many of those who were not remarkably well up in 
military history were informed for the first time that 
a certain Irish regiment, bearing our number (88), of 
the English army had achieved immortal renown upon 
the field of Waterloo. In magnificent and soul-stirring 
periods we were urged one and all to "emulate the 
glorious example of that gallant corps," and then, in 
the same strain, he imitated the ancient generals in 
the way we are told they used to fire the hearts of 
their soldiers and animate them to deeds of valor, by 
depreciating the quality of the enemy. We were told 
that "the Rebel horde in front of us '"was "composed 
of a lot of half-starved, ill-clad, semi-barbarous rag-a- 
muffins," the " white trash " of the South, whom even 
the negro despised, in order to defeat Avhom it was 
only necessary for us to show ourselves ; continuing, 
he said, that " while we are the soldiers of the Union, 
fighting for tlie very existence of that Union, founded 
by Washington and cemented by the blood of our an- 
cestors, the patriots of the Revolution, your enemies 
are endeavorino- to undo all vour fathers did, and found 



GOIXG INTO BATTLE. 105 

an empire upon the ])asis of Immaii slaverv." In (liis 
manner the Colonel harangued the men for nearlv 
half an lionr, when our le.sson in oratory was brought 
to an abrupt conclusion bv an aide-de-camp from 
somewhere, who communicated marcliing orders. 
On receiving an intimation from the Colonel I sound- 
ed a blast that brought the regiment " left into line," 
and in less than five minutes more we were on the 
road. It was ominous now to see the manner of pro- 
ceeding. As we had usually marched, the band, with 
its rub-a-dub-dub, was in the front; then followed 
the Colonel, solemn and alone ; then came the staff, 
and each com'[)any commander was at the head of his 
men ; but now the order was reversed : the band was 
in the rear ; then came the Colonel and his staif ; the 
company commanders were at the tail end of their 
respective company columns, and the regiment being 
*Meft in front," and Coni})auy *'B'' being the left 
company, and Tommy Corrigan being the smallest 
man in it, he had the honor of being the actual 
leader. We advanced slowh^, expecting we' knew not 
what, until we reached our picket line of the night 
before, when we relieved the men of it and halted for 
orders. At this halt Dr. Coatesworth, our regimental 
surgeon, began hi>< preparations for work ; he directed 
each of the drummers and fifers to place a piece of 
yellow rag around his left arm, and was proceeding to 
have me do the same when I appealed to the Colonel, 
who was near by, and asked him if Company " B " 
was not going to skirmish ; if it was, the men might 
need a bugler, and at any rate I did not wish to be a 
non-combatant. The Colonel laughed grimly, and 



106 XARRATIVE OF A PRIAMTE SOLDIER. 

replied thiit il w.i ; quite likely Company "B" woiilt]: 
soon be skir:i\i ;iiing, and perhaps doing something- 
else mo;v serious still, and he gave me the desired 
permission to go forward to the head of the regiment, 
and there report to tho Captain. To the Captain I 
told how it was that I became ordered to report to 
him, and on leariiiiig tlie circumstances I was received 
enthusiastically by the men. 

4. After advancing for some three or four hundred 
yards we came upon a squad of the enemy's cavalry, 
and a running tight ensued, we killing one and 
wounding three others, without suffering any casualty 
on our side. Tlie enemy tied as the regiment filed off 
from the road and formed into line on the doublo 
quick. Then we advanced again, and when we reached 
a point where the roiid took a turn to the left we made 
another formation in some grand cedar woods on our 
right. Here Companies " A " and " B " were ordered 
to deploy as skirmishers, with Companies "F" and 
" G " as a reserve for tlienu When all was ready, and 
by the Captain's orders, I sounded the "Deploy a^ 
skirmishers," ''On the centre deploy," and ''For- 
ward," and away we went through the woods. The 
mnsket balls from the enemy came thick and fast 
among ns, but as we were protected by the large 
trees, we suffered very little if any at all. Our men 
fired at the enemy near the end of the woods, and then 
each man dashed forward to the cover of the most 
convenient tree, Avhere he reloaded and prepared for 
another dash. Next I was directed to sound a 
" Rally by fours," which being done in tolerable shape, 
an order to go forward v/as given, and when I had 



ADVAXcixG OX THE exp:my. 107 

again sonuded a '* Halt " and '' \)v\)hn\" we liad 
cleared tlie woods and were in fidl view of a beanliful 
cultivated spaje, shut in on all sides but one by the dense 
cedar forest. The o]>en side was towai'd the south- 
east, aiul was formed of a sort of ** bottiun *' or morass. 
The woods on all other sides but the one we were on 
were tilled with the enemy, and from the farther end 
on our left was a battery that had got our range, and 
was ra|)idly sending shells and solid shot into an in- 
conveniently close ])roximity to our line. The fire 
from the enemy's small arms did no harm because it 
went too high. The open space alluded to was the 
theatre of all I saw of the real battle, which had now 
commenced in earnest. It was a single cotton planta- 
tion, and comprised several fields of various shapes 
and sizes. Toward the centre of the opening was sit- 
uated the planter's house, surrounded by the usual 
com})lenient of outhouses and negro quarters, and on 
one side, to the left of us, there was a large barn-like 
structure, and that was a cotton-gin and press. We 
continued to tire as rapidly as we could, and always 
aimed in a general way in the direction of the battery 
and where we saw the smoke of the enemy's small arms, 
but I could not see whether our shots did any execu- 
tion. About noon we were informed that in order to 
perfect our line of battle, it was necessary to carry the 
open space and clear the woods on either hand, and 
thereupon the Second and Fifteenth Missouri regi- 
ments on our right darted out of the woods. They 
were exposed to a A'ery heavy fire, but they did not 
flinch nor make a halt until they had gained the 
woods beyond. The infantry were closely followed by 



108 XARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE t>aLDIER. 

a battery of f'>nr [>ieces. We watched with eager in- 
terest as we saw the galhint Germans coarse across the 
cotton tielils and over fences, and enter the woods be- 
yond. This was our time, and we were ordered to 
advance on tlie double quick into the opening and 
take up a position in front of the mansion. At the 
sound of the bugle Companies ' "A " and *^B" 
went from cover and swept across the fields under 
another heavy fire, but the men succeeded in gain- 
ing the house, the lawn, and the adjacent out- 
buildings. A battery now took up a position on 
our former line on the edge of the woods, and 
engaged the enemy over our heads. Meanwhile the 
Missouri regiments and the battery which they sup- 
ported fought the battery and the infantry of the 
enemy m their front. It was now too late in the day 
for a regular battle to be brought on, but the active 
skirmishing and artillery fighting increased until 
nearly the whole of our corps front was engaged. The 
soldiers of botli armies were in plain view of each 
other, and the rattle of musketry and the roar of can- 
non were heard from afar on either hand. AYe had 
nov\^ within our view the higher buildings of the town, 
and we thought that on the morrow, perhaps even 
that same night, we would gain the prize. Again an 
advance was oi-dered, and the men ran gallantly over 
another field or two and laid themselves down close by 
a fence, the new line thus formed bringing them more 
to a face with the enemy. The Missouri regiments 
too made another dash, and gained a still more favor- 
able position for shelling the woods. The battery 
which they supported speedily followed and took the 



DEATH OF ABE WEAVER. 109 

new position — all save one o-mi that wns placed hors 
du combat by a well directed shot of the eiieniy. This 
was about half-past three oxdock in tlie afternoon. 

While i]i the last mentioned position and beyond 
the liouse the fire from the enemy was terrific. The 
earth near by was torn by the shot, and sliells ex- 
ploded very near to us. Musketry balls literally fell 
like hail, and as they struck the ground they sputtered 
and sizzed like great hailstones. Here, about five 
o'clock in the afternoon, and just as the fire of the 
enemy had decreased to almost random shots, Abram 
Weaver, my bosom friend, was killed. He received a 
bullet right in the heart, and as he fell he died without 
a groan. In the charge to obtain this position Cap- 
tain Smith, of Company '' A," fell, wounded, but how, 
I have forgotten. 1 was with the Captain of my com- 
pany when Abe Weaver fell, and we stood about ten 
paces to (he rear. The men were wtirned to lie flat on 
the ground, and all except Volney, Abe's brother, 
obeyed. Volney was frantic with grief. I shall never 
forget the terrible look upon his face. I was directed 
by the Captain to take him to the rear, and he came 
with me easily enough, but as he went along he ner- 
vously clutched his musket, and swore to be revenged 
for his brother's death. We passed safely through 
a shower of bullets on our way, and when we reached 
the dwelling house I conducted Weaver to a comforta- 
ble place, and as he had become quite sick, the doctors 
prescribed for him. As I was about to return to the 
front. Generals Sheridan, Sill, and two or three others, 
accompanied by a numerous staff, came up, and as 
they peeped around the corners of the house at the 



110 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

battle g()i?ii>- on in front, tlie bullets came prett}' lively, 
and I ivmcnioc'i- that I was amused at the manner in 
Avhich our commanders dodged the fire. General 
Sheridan swung his cloak around his body, and said 
something that made us all laugh. I am sorry now 
that I have not preserved the joke. After dark tliere 
was nothing but desultory tiring by either pickets, ex- 
cept that up to about seven o'clock our battery and 
that of the enemy kept up a sort of duel. I went out 
to where the body of Abe AVeaver lay, and after secur- 
ing his diary and papers, straightened out his limbs. 
Among the documents I found was one that has some 
bearing in showing the cluiracter of our volunteer sol- 
diers. That a young man possessing such talents as 
the work proclaims he did should be called upon to 
sacrifice his life will certainly tend to give future gene- 
rations an idea of the cruel character of the war, and 
it is to be hoped that the thought will act as aw^arning 
against the evils of fratricidal strife. I have kept a 
copy of the lines, and give them here. They appear 
to have been written in an ecstacy of patriotism. 

Oh ! that I could now coramand the elements, 
And guide them on their universal routes ! 
I'd confine them all on this fair land of ours ; 
And then, with thunders loud and strong, 
Louder than what sometimes doth fright our souls. 
And tempests such as would draw out mountains 
From their solid rocky bases, and hurl them 
Far into the turmoil of the sea — 
I'd teach them all to proclaim Liberty ! 

Oh ! that sheets of vivid lightning I could rend 

Into an Alphabet that all might read, 

In living chal^acLer? that, like the adamant, 



NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE. lU 

Would stand the freaks of nature and defy them 

For a thousand times a tho isan^l years! 

I'd concentrate on high its powers of brightness, 

And let it vie with the eternal font of light, 

And with that shed its light and heat all round, 

Into the smallest nook and vale of earth, 

In every hamlet and in every hut, 

Where freedom now, and where it doth not shine — 

Oh, yes ! if I could now have full command, 

I'd write (and under it Eternity) 

The glorious legend, Liberty ! 

5. About ei_ii-iit oV-iock we reformed onr line near 
the house, and left only a picket where our advanced 
position had been. All the wounded were taken to 
the house, where their hurts were temporarily dressed, 
and they were then sent to the rear in ambulances. 
The body of Abe Weaver Avas brought in and laid at 
the foot of a tree in front of the house, and a piece of 
cord wood placed under him for a head rest. I saw 
him at a late hour, and as he lay u[)()n his back, with 
his eyes open aud a smile upon his face, he seemed to 
be peacefully gazing up at the stars, which but dimly 
lighted the sky. They say that the body was decently^ 
interred during the night, but I did not see it done. 
In common with the many thousands of others, it may 
be said of him that 

Those who in their country's cause 
Their young life's blood have shed 

For what in right and justice was, 
Do but sleep : they are not dead. 

Each drop of blood shall rise again 

With multiplying power ; 
Each wound, each groan, each sting of pain, 

Shall liave its recompensing hour. 



112 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

Thy youthful blood, though poured like rain, 

Upon thy country's altar, 
Well prove has not been poured in vain 

When treason dare assault her. 

Examples live, and so shall thine 

Unto the latest ages ; 
Thine epitaph, unwritten now, 

Shall be the work of sages. 

Sleep then a patriot's sleep, 

In glory's honored bed — 
Live on in History's brightest page, 

Thou brave, heroic dead. 

We found the house moderately well supplied with 
necessaries. Linen sliirts. cloths, and sheetings were 
utilized by the doctors in the manufacture of bandages. 
A quantity of edibles Avas found, and far down in an 
outdoor cellar a box of tallow dips was discovered, and 
the latter articles were very welcome indeed. We also 
came upon several bee-hives, and after we liad obtained 
from them all the honey we could they were set on 
fire. This brought an order from the General direct- 
ing us to be more careful. There was no use in 
tjiinking of sleep that night, and I do not believe there 
were many that got any — none at all except, perhaps, 
Tommy Oorrigan. He, as I said before, could sleep 
anywhere. The house was pretty well filled with 
wounded and dying men, and the doctors were busy 
attending to the wants of the injured and in making 
preparations to receive such as would claim their ser- 
vices on the morrow. After midnight the Captain of 
Company "F" (I think, of our regiment, and who 
was at the time under arrest for some ca'ise or an- 
other), and two other men whose names I have also 



THE BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO'. 113 

forgotten, engaged ^vith me in pl.-iying canU. T men- 
tion this as one of the plienomena of military life. 
We four were surrounded by dead and wounded men, 
within earshot of the shrieks and groans of our poor 
unfortunate comrades, and yet we not only could en- 
gage in playing euchre, hut, taking no heed of the 
chances agninst that day being our last on earth, I i-e- 
meniber that the uominal stakes were as eagerly 
sought after and played for as if we were far away and 
safely ensconced in some peaceful back parlor. Often- 
times since, when engaged in a social game, tbe play- 
ing of it recalls to my mind that memorable night, 
and I start almost shuddering as I think of it. All 
that night there was hurrying to and fro, and from 
far behind us came the noise as of cautious activity in 
our main army, and from our front there was more 
than occasionally heard the ominously low, rumbling 
sounds of massive life and ])i-eparation. All this kept our 
imaginations busy in tigh ting for the supremacy, but the 
cards Avere victorious, and we did not become aifected 
very much. About four o'clock in the morning 
of the last day of 1862 we four players were suddenly 
brought to our feet by hearing the sound of regular 
tiring from the enemy's front, and we got outside of 
the house just in time to see a large body of the cav- 
alry galloping back through the morass I mentioned 
before. We saw the flashings of their guns as they 
wheeled around and made another fire. Soon all was 
bustle around its, and the wounded men were hurriedly 
placed into ambulances and taken to the rear. I saw 
Dr. Coatesworth take himself oif in anything but a 
gallant manner. For awhile all was preparation, but 



114 XAKRATIVJ- UF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

as soon as tlie tii-st streak.^^ of dawn appeared tlie firiniT 
of the outei'iiiost line became general. As soon as it 
was light enough the batteries on either side engaged 
one another, and before the sun was fairly np the in- 
fantry of both ai-niies had commenced the bloody 
work. 

Up to seven or eight o'clock onr men stood their 
ground well enough, but a little later the woods 
in front of us fairly vomited forth clonds of the 
enemy. At the place wliere our advanced line had 
been the evening before tlie conflict became almost a 
hand-to-hand fight. Numbers fell on either side. 
About this time a shell exploded near where I stood, 
and a piece of that, or else one of the shower of 
bullets that fell, dei)rived me of my bugle. It .was 
torn almost into two pieces. I experienced then a 
very curious but indescribable feeling as I carefully 
examined myself to ascertaiu whether or not I was 
wounded. It was the most agreeable surprise I ever 
felt. The battle raged thus, now driving and again 
being di-iven, until ten or eleven o'clock, when more 
clouds of the enemy emerged from the woods, and by 
some signal those who had been fighting in front fjell 
upon their faces, while the fresh troops, with wild, 
unearthly yells, ran over the prostrate bodies and took 
the lead. This was too much for our men, and the 
line gave way and fell back to the house, and there, 
under a galling fire, reformed. But the enemy had 
massed his forces in our immediate front, and line 
after line came as I have described the first two. It 
was as if a tide of steel, wave succeeding wave, and 
with such impetuo^i'V that nothing on earth in the 



AN UNPLEASAXT PREDICAMEXT. 115 

shape of an iinny eoiihi witiistiiiid it. 1 s;nv tlio 
Thirty-t^ixth Illinois iiiid the Kit'toiMith Missoiii-i, and 
some other regiments, make two gallant charges on 
my right, and the enemy fell hack ; hut het'ore I conld 
get out of my unfavorahle position the brave Union 
regiments themselves had to retreat before overwhelm- 
ing numbers, and with that I was lost ; I became 
virtually a prisoner of war from that time. As our 
line fell back, I was in a most unpleasant predicament. 
I was between the contending armies, and in equal 
danger of being killed or wounded by my friends as 
by my foes. I remember seeing the Eighty-eighth in 
one disorderly mass near the cotton press, and the 
Colonel was wildly gesticulating as if endeavoring to 
have the regiment rally and form into line ; but I also 
saw that he failed altogether, and the men hastily re- 
treated in a demoralized manner to the woods in the 
rear, which tliey entered near where our hrst skirmish 
line appeared the day before. That is the last I ever 
saw of the Eighty-eighth, and I cannot claim a share 
of whatever fame or glory the regiment earned after- 
ward. I was told that General Sill, our Brigadier, 
was killed about eleven o'clock, and at a place not far 
from where I stood. Soon there were two lines of 
Confederate soldiei-s between me and safety, and now 
I got bolder and stood near the fence that ran in front 
of the house. Then I encountered another line of the 
enemy, but they brushed past me and offered me no 
harm. I was only the recipient of some cursing and 
swearing, and called a '' damned Yankee," and they 
went along. General Cheatham and his staff soon af- 
ter came up to where I was, and to one of his attend- 



116 XARIIATIVE OF A PKIVATE SOLDIER. 

ants I believe I gave some misinformation. Up to 
tliis time I h.i 1 !)een in considerable danger from onr 
own men. Tlie enemy had moved so rapidly that the 
lire from our batteries intended for them, and which 
was sujjposed to retard them in their advance, had 
fallen far behind and around the locality where I was. 
More than one of the shells from onr batteries explod- 
ed, and several of the solid shot of our troops landed 
in or near to the house, which was now filled with 
wounded men. Major Miller, of the Thirty-sixth Illi- 
nois Infantry, already hurt, was, I think, further 
wounded by one of our own missives. Sergeants 
George Cole and Charley Swan, of the Twenty-fourth 
Wisconsin, were also inside, wounded. A shell ex- 
ploded in one room, and put five or six poor fellows 
out of their pain and misery entirely. The scenes in- 
side were too terrible to be depicted, at least by me. 

7. The fighting went on in this Avay, but far to my 
rear, until about two o'clock p. m., when the rear or 
provost guard of the enemy came up, and I, with 
others, was formally taken prisoner. This guard was 
deployed as skirmishers, or at a little wider intervals, 
and had to perform the twofold duty of preventing 
desertion from their own army and of gathering pris- 
oners aud plunder. This particular guard was com- 
posed of a regiment called the ''First Louisiana 
Tigers," and was commanded by a Colonel Jacques. 
It^was a Xew Orleans regiment, and the ranks of it 
were mostly made up of Irishmen. The Colonel told 
us who he was, and offered to parole us then and there. 
During the afternoon, and amid the roar of cannonad- 
ing and the incessant volleying of musketry, and 



A PRISOXER OF WAR. 117 

while we could see the clouds of dust aud hear the 
shouts and clash of battle far and near, a lot of us 
unfortunaf.es were disarmed, herded together, and 
marched toward the city — prisoners of war. By him 
who has never been in the like circumstances, I believe 
it to be utterly impossibk^ to conceive the nature of 
our feelings as we tramped over the ground that the 
night before we were so confident of gaining as victors 
in the then impending battle. " 'Twas not to be," 
and we were led, or dragged, into the town ; and amid 
the Avild exultations of the inhabitants and the brutal 
raillery of the soldiers, we were tlirust into the court- 
house enclosure. We were tired, weary, heart-sick, 
and sore. Here I found that I was but one out of 
many hundreds. There were besides myself George 
Rodney of my company, and Alfred Rogers and 
Chauncy Walworth of the regiment, and many others 
with wiiom I had a speaking acquaintance. After 
awhile we wei'c ordered to proceed upstairs in the 
dingy courthouse, and into a small office ; there we 
gave our names, rank, company, and regiment, and 
were relieved of all our surplus baggage ; that is, tin 
cups, plates, knives, forks, woollen blankets, and 
other articles. I was well searched, and Abe AVeaver's 
diary and letters, which I had secured the night be- 
fore, were closely scrutinized, but found innocent ; my 
small portfolio, containing fine French paper, and 
which was concealed in a breast pocket, was not dis- 
covered, but I had a very difficult task to procure ex- 
emption from seizure for my rubber blanket. This 
concluded, we were allowed to again enter the yard. 



CHAPTER V. 

CONTAINS A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF MY SOJOURN IN 
THE SOUTH WHILE A PRISONER OF WAR IN THE 
HANDS OF THE ENEMY, AND THENCE ON UNTIL 
I ARRIVED AT BENTON BARRACKS, NEAR ST. 
LOUIS, MISSOURI, WHERE I REPORTED TO COLONEL 
B. L. E. BONNEVILLE, U. S. A., ON THE IOTH 
DAY OF APRIL, 1863. 

1. I HAVE on a previous occasion written a very full 
account of my stay in the South while a prisoner of 
war in the hands of the enemy, and because of that, 
and for tlie reason that it is my desire that my narra- 
tive may not appear to be drawn out too much, and 
become tedious because of its length, I have determined 
to give only a general account in this place of that pe- 
riod. Besides tliese, there is one other reason why I 
should not at this time particularly rehearse tlie suf- 
ferings and trials we underwent, and that is because 
many sulfered to a greater extent by far tlian I did, 
and they liave had their recorders by the score. The 
treatment wliich prisoners of war received during 
those unh;ip])y times will be taken notice of by the 



A DISMAL CHAXGE. 119 

writers of the liistory of ll)t' war wlioii it comes to bo 
made ii}). For my part, I would rather erase from my 
memoiT, if I coidd, the sad sidc^ of the story, and 
retain only that by wliich 1 was benetited, the travel- 
ling, changes of scene, and tlie acquaintance I made 
with tlie manners of the ditfo-ent peo[)le with wdiom I 
came in contact. And although I may freqiientl}' 
liave to say that our men sulfered, the wounded from 
(ack of treatment and all from lack of food and 
exposure, yet I am aluKJSt ready to apologize for many 
of the shortcomings of the enemy in tliese regards, be- 
cause in nearly every instance they treated their own 
forces no better than thev did us, and this too for the 
very good reason that what they had not themselves 
could not very well be furnished to us. 

Early on the morning of the 1st of January, 1863, 
I was a^vakened by being trampled upon by some of 
my mates in misfortune. It was a disnnd change 
from the comparatively ha})py dreamy sleep I had 
been in, and which had been superinduced by the ex- 
citement and fatigue of the previous days, when I 
a^voke on that Xew Year's morning. For nearly a 
week before, the tension on our spirits had been 
strained, until but little was wanting to break us down. 
The defeat and capture and that night's confine- 
ment in the filthy courtyard constituted the last straw, 
and a more broken-spirited lot of humanity than we 
were then it would be difficult to conceive of, It had 
rained all night, as it invariably did immediately after 
heavy firing, and now we were wet to the skin and 
chilled to our bones. Every joint in my body ached, 
and I was in great pain and torture. As soon as the 



130 XARRATIVi: OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

daylight heg.i;! to appear we were roused somewhat 
and cheered hy the sound of heavy cannonading and 
other noises of hat tie, and thereby we were assured 
tliat althougli tlie enemy (as tliey boasted) had captured 
so many of us (2,500), still our army was not destroyed 
by any means, but on the contrary was still engaging 
the enemy, and that too at no very great distance 
away. When we beheld the hurry and bustle amonjr 
the Southern forces around us we even hoped for our 
speedy release by our army gaining an overwhelming- 
victory. But alas I it was not to be gained in time to 
save us. Upon a full and fair consideration of the 
circumstances, and by virtue of my own experience, I 
feel confident in asserting, and I think all will agree 
with me, that there is no position a soldier can be 
made to occupy so conducive to a good, strong, healthy 
appetite for food as that in wliich he is placed when 
he realizes that he is a prisoner of war and out of im- 
mediate danger of being kille I or wounded by pur- 
posely directed bullets or stray shots, bursting shells 
or solid missiles. It need not be recpiired then that I 
should argue the (juestion, and it will be sufficient to say 
tlrat I was very hungry, and immediately placed my- 
self on the qui vive for something to eat. Early in the 
day an officer of the Southern forces, a sort of Com- 
missary or Quartermaster, entered the yard of the 
courthouse in which I was confined and wanted labor 
to load wagons with provisions, as he said, for the 
*^ Yankee wounded." I instantly volunteered, and 
with some others went along with hihi. I was willing 
to go anywhere with anybody where provisions were 
to be seen, as it would be a liard matter, I thouoht, if 



AT TULLAHOMA. 121 

I could liandle food iind not irot any for mvsolf. T 
succeeded in g-etting possession of a soiiv liaru and a 
quantity of flour and corn meal. With these I re- 
turned to the courthouse yai'd, hut 1 found that my 
friends had been removed, and I liad to follow them a 
long way tlirough the slush and snow to a bivouac not 
far from the raiJrojul station on the south side of the 
town ; my note-book says it was near a jail, but I do 
not rememljer seeing it. 

2. There was great activity in railroad matters; but 
we did not know that General Rosecrans was to gain 
such a splendid victory as he did on the Friday ensu- 
ing. We received in this place our first ration, and it 
consisted of a small ([uantity of sour, coarse, and 
dirty corn-meal. Brine scraped from the inside of 
empty pork and beef barrels "was used in the place of 
salt, and the men cooked the corn-meal by first wetting 
it to about {he consistency of ])laster, and daubing old 
flour barrel heads with the mixture ; the preparation 
was then held against a smoky Are built uj^on the 
ground until it became dry. Early next morning we 
we]"e nuirched out of the enclosure and taken nearer 
the railroad track, and after a couple of hours' shiver- 
ing in the cold slush and snow we were driven into a 
train of cattle cars, seventy or more of us unfortunates 
in each car, and the wdiole train hurried away to the 
south as fast as the poor railroad facilities would per- 
mit. At Tullahoma we w^ere delayed several hours in 
order to allow other trains to pass us on their way to 
Murfreesboro'. At this place we saw tlie marks of 
previously used defence works, trenches, stockades, 
etc., which wa were told had been erected by one of 



122 XARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

our arinit'S on. \t< retreat the summer before. The 
country ai'oiiii'.l Tullahomji looked miserable; the 
whole appeared to be covered with a dense growth of 
stunted pine or cedar, and the people who visited us 
on the railroad were just as poor looking ; what with, 
their raggedy dirtyv homespun garments, and their 
universal, uncouth, half-starved looking countenances 
they were indeed a pitiful set. After a long and 
wearisome ride we finally reached Chattanooga. Our 
entry into this famous place was made some time dur- 
ing the nighty and we were at once conducted to the 
west side of the town, thi-ough the cold rain and 
sleet, and thence to a deep hole in the mountains, in 
which we were interned vv;itlu>ut tents or other protec- 
tion against the disagreeable weather. In the morn- 
ing we partially discovered where we were. The 
southerly boundary of our prison was formed of the 
Tennessee river, and on all other sides were high 
moantains, not very mucli unlike the place we so suc- 
cessfully foraged near Xashville a month or so before. 
The wounded men suffered very much now ; their 
neglected hurts had commenced to fester, and the torn 
flesli to rot. All of them were miserable, and not a 
few lost their senses from their pains and agonies. 
Those of us who were well enough to yell sought to 
find our acquaintances, and for an hour or so the pris- 
oners tried to get together the men of each regiment 
by themselves, and during that time the shouts for the 
"Forty-second Indiana," and this regiment and that^ 
gave considerable life to tlie hitherto dreary scene. 
Here, too, several of our men, who had provided 
themselves with enormous quantities of counterfe^it 



IX CHATTAXOOGA. 123 

Confederate bills, and who liad apparently allowed 
themselves to be captnred on purpose, were arrested 
by the Southern authorities for using the commodity. 
They were taken away to ])rison, and, as we wei-e told, 
received some very severe punishment. Every one of 
us had to ])roduce our wallets for inspection. Many 
of us believed at the time that the whole was a pre- 
tended fear, and that tlie inspection was a ruse of the 
authorities to get a knowledge of our funds, because 
they did not a])pear to discriminate in their seizures 
of bills. One of the tirst things we did on being cai> 
tured was to make the most we could ont of our su- 
perior currency, and it was natural to suppose that 
the most honorable of us were liable to be imposed 
upon in the exchange. We now Inid our first picture 
of Southern life in war times ; that is, life away from 
the field. We bought breakfast biscuits for two dol- 
lars (Confederate money) a dozen, milk at one doihir 
a qua]-t, a tiny dried apple or dried peach pie for a 
dollar, and everything else there was to be had at the 
same high prices. The people seemed to have plenty 
of money, and even little boys sported pockets filled 
with "shinplasters." But it was '^greenbacks" that 
all wanted, and a dollar of our money had from ten 
to twenty times the purchasing power of a " gray- 
back," as the Southern money Avas called. We re- 
ceived our second ration at Chattanooga, and it con- 
sisted of a small measure of corn-meal of nearly the 
same quality as the previous dole, and was cooked by 
the men in the same manner. 

3. We remained in Chattanooga in all about twenty- 
four hours, at the expiration of which time we were 



124 X ARE ATI YE OF A PHI V ATE SOLDIER. 

again put upon the filthy cattle cars, and conducted 
on a "''strap-iron" railroad to Dalton Junction, 
(rcorgia. On our route we passed over and saw 
the grand mountains of that region, which have 
since then become so historical, but our spirits 
were anything else but conducive to our artistic 
appreciation of the scenes. Dalton is a station 
on the road to Atlanta, and where the railroad 
coming from East Tennessee joins the one going 
north and south. I think it was then called the 
^'East Tennessee and Virginia" railroad. We were 
delayed here also, for a couple of hours, but there 
was nothing of interest to be seen. There was the 
same inanity prevailing as at the other places we 
had sto])ped at. Then we went on at a snail's pace to 
Atlanta, Georo-ia. On arrivino^ at Atlanta we were at 
first conducted to a pine woods beyond the town, and 
although deep snow was on the ground, the place was 
welcome to us as offering some chance to straighten 
our limbs and stretch out at rest. During the night 
we were mustered under a strong militia guard, and 
by the light of blazing pine-knot torches we were 
brought through the sombre forest and across lots to 
an empty square about in the centre of the city. In 
the morning we were there exhibited to the wondering 
people of the place. Crowds of all kinds came to see 
us. There were throngs of young and old, white and 
black. It was said that there was cause for especial 
astonishment to many of the inhabitants for that 
whereas we were "Yankees," and no mistake, yet we 
had no tails as moiikeys have, and as they had been 
assured the ''Yankees" wore, and besides that, we had 



IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA. 125 

feet very mucli like their own, jind np to tlii,^ time 
better clad. During the wintry d;iy we received many 
marks of enmity from the jxjpnhiee, hut I must not 
omit to sny tliat I nt least was treated kindlv l)v a rebel 
soldier and also by a hidy who lived on the 'easterly 
side of the s(inare. The first divided his stock of 
provender with me and the latter sent her servant 
with a basket of provisions to the party in whieh I 
was. In the evening J slii)]X'd the guard, and went 
partially through the town. In one place I read a 
newspaper called the ''Atlanta Confederacy." The 
editor of the sheet was present, and he Avas very jubi- 
lant and demonstrative. I also went into a store 
where a very long-to]]gued man was glibly crying 
goods off at auction. He had a very meagre stock! 
but the prices he got when compared with^'prices in 
the North were as dollars to cents or half-dimes. 
From Atlantii we went to West Point. West Point is 
on or near to a river that forms the western boundary 
of Georgia and the eastern line of Alabama. Before 
reaching West Point we stopped at one of the prettiest 
towns I ever saw. I think it was called La Grange. 
If it was not, it bore an ecpially pretty name. I went 
from the railroad some distance befm-e entering the 
town. There was a large sqnare snrronnded by^neat 
houses, and in the centre there was a fine well with an 
enormous bnt old-fashioned pump. On one side there 
were the post-office, a large, commodiously built struc- 
ture, and an airily built hotel. But all was empty 
and silent. I walked along the corridors of the ele- 
gant looking hostelry, but no sound was heard save 
the echo of my own footfalls. I met no one to impede 



126 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

me; tliere w;;s nt'tiial desertion in the place. Tlie 
stores too were elosed und empty, and tlie whole place 
looked as if it was dead — as if it had been visited at 
midnight by tlie angel of death, and none left to bury 
the victims. The town had Ix^en drained of its willinof 
lighting material, and the unwilling ones had taken to 
the wilds of the hills to esca])e conscription. I was 
told that each house was one of mourning. As I re- 
traced my steps ovei- the grass-grown street to the sta- 
tion, I felt it was a great i)ity that so fair a place 
should have to suffer so much. Near the depot I saw 
some of our men in the act of despoiling a house 
around which there were apparent some signs of life. 
After I had prevailed upon them to desist from unne- 
cessary violence, I went into the house. Here I found 
Major Thomas J. Barrv, of the Sixtieth Georo-ia red- 
ment of infantry. lie lay in his bed, where he had 
been for a long time suffering from wounds in both 
legs. He was very grateful for my interference, and 
he showed his gratitude by furnishing me with some- 
thing to eat. Before I left him he talked with mo 
very sensibly about the wai", but of course from the 
standpoint of a Southern gentleman, and so for that 
reason it was impossible for us to agree. He told me 
that he had been educated at West Point Military 
Academy, and up to the breaking out of the war had 
been a Lieutenant in the regular army. Yet he 
refused to agree with me that that fact alone consti- 
tuted a strong argument in favor of the General 
Government and against his native State holding the 
prior right to his personal services. From my experi- 
ence with the people of the South (excluding, of 



AT WEST POIXT, GEORGIA. 127 

course, the bljitjint. loiid-nionllRMJ puvlioii of it), I nm 
led to conclude tluit the ^'rejit ])()\ver of the Confed- 
eracy was derived from a difference in the })olitical 
education of the peoi)Ie North and South. They of 
the South recognized the National (xovernnient as a. 
mere engine of convenience, having no supervisory 
powers over the several States, the latter being so 
luany sovereign and inde[>endent republics — in fact, 
that our country was a mere confederacy. We of the 
North not only believed the contrary, but had been 
taught to look upon the Union of the States as a per- 
petual federation — that the Union was first, and States 
or communities at least second. If it had not been 
for this difference in training, I do not believe that 
ihe Southern Confederacy could have recruited a 
second army. At West Point Alfi-ed Rogei-s and 
myself (for we had become ahnost insej)ai'al)le com- 
panions) got our sn])per at the house of a Frenchman, 
who did not scruple in j^rivate to berate the South, its 
armies, president, and everything belonging to it, but 
told us that he hoped Ave had not been noticed as we 
entered his house. We slept that night under the 
platform of the depot, and had for our bed a lot of 
decaying cotton-seed. In the night it had rained in 
torrents, and when we awoke in the morning it was 
still falling heavily. There were fair promises made 
that we should get a ration of food, but as far as we 
were concerned we did not place much confidence in 
them, so that the first question that we propounded to 
ourselves was, " Where shall we get our breakfast? " In 
solving the problem we had to take into consideration 
the warning of the French gentleman, and according- 



128 ^AKKATIV K OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

ly we heaflcd our course in a direction different from 
tliat of hi!< mansion. After a lively run through the 
pelting rain, and jumping numerous temporary water 
courses, and experiencing many rebuffs, we reached a 
neat-looking house, where we were taken in. The 
lady of the house informed us that her husband and 
two sons were members of the famous '' Hampton Le- 
gion," and in treating us well she hoped that some 
one in the Nortli would be led to do as much for her 
loved ones. Hers was a sad story. Her husband was 
far away in the East, conHiied in a hospital until his 
wounds were healed enough to enable him to travel, 
and when that time came he would return a crip])le ; 
one son had fallen on one of the battlefields of Vir- 
ginia, and she said she had "some consolation in 
knowing that he was dead '' ; but her youngest son 
was she knew not where, as he had not been heard 
from for many months. Her recital, however, did 
not prevent our speedy entertainment ; for, as soon 
as it was over, we were conducted to a dining-room, 
and there heli)ed to a comparatively substantial break- 
fast. Kor did the sad bereavements of the family 
prevent the good lady's three daughters from being 
somewhat gay. After the meal was over we entered 
a neatly furnished parlor, and were treated to music 
and lively conversation. In due time we separated 
with mutual promises, names, and addresses ; but I 
have forgotten what I received, and I doubt not 
that in the succeeding disastrous state of affairs in 
that country the memory of us soon faded from their 
minds as well. At a beautiful town called Ope- 
lika, in Alabama, we stopped, and found the same 



AT MOXTGOMEKY. ALABAMA. 120 

scenes of destitution ;i.< \\v had at La (iraime. in 
(reorgia. 

4. Up to tliis time wc had uood ri-asons for enter- 
taining liopes of our speedy delivci-auce from eaptivity. 
As we understood it the [)rograninie was that we should 
be conducted to Vieksburg, Mississip[)i, that eityl)eing 
(hen a dei)ot for tlie exeliange of prisoners under tlie 
existing cartel ; Ijut after wv liad reached a point a 
short distance to tlie east of ^lontgomery, Alabama, 
we were chagrined on ascertaining that a serious hin- 
drance to our delivery existed. I forget now exactly 
what it Avas, but I think General Grant had been 
making some gi-and movement, and that our foi'ces 
had cut the communications. At any rate we were 
given to understand that we were to go no further 
that way, but retrace our stcjxs to some ]ioint toward 
-the Atlantic sea-boai-d — some said Ghai-lestoii. others 
Salisbury, Xoi-tli Carolina, and the rest Kiclnnoml. 
Virginia. While we were outside of Montgomery the 
men created rpiite a stir. They had taken the old ad- 
vice about the early l)ird, etc., and at an early hour 
some of them went to the public market and bought 
nearly all the stutf there was to sell, jind much of the 
money used had been counterfeit. When the citizens 
got up to make the usual i)urchases for the day they 
found they had been cornered. This caused a procla- 
mati(jn by the Mayor to be issued during the day, and 
we were thereby interdi(;ted from all trade with the 
people. At Montgomery we received the only respect- 
able issue of rations that we got during our entire 
captivity. It is deserving of commemoration because 
it consisted in part of roasted beef and fresh bread. 



loO :NAKKAnVE OF A PKIVATE SOLDIER. 

We were hivonat-ked along the niilroiid track to the 
east of the town, and were permitted to use some of 
tlie pine wood that was corded near by for fuel. The 
weather was (piite chilly and cold, but it is doubtful 
from which we suffered most, the cold or the dense 
black smoke of the pine-wood fires. It was ordered 
that before the issuing of i-ations the men should form 
themselves into companies of about one hundred each, 
so as to expedite the work. Then four or five of them 
would get the food and make the subdivision. On this 
occasion there were eleven companies, but five or six 
men with wliom I was i)roceeded to the place of distri- 
bution and demanded rations for the twelfth company, 
and got them. In this way we got considerable more 
than our share. 

Our retrog)-ade journey Avas not at first so lively in 
pleasant incidents as our forward movement had been. 
The wounded men began to fall off here and there, 
and many died in the cars. All of us were more or 
less in low s})irits. On our journey hitherto the men 
had been somewhat gay even at times. The Germans 
were particularly so. They engaged in singing songs 
of different kinds, but all were alike in having uproar- 
ious choruses. It must have been startling to the 
people living along the road to hear in the middle of 
the night nearly a thousand men singing ** Johnny 
Schmoker"and that other song with a chorus some- 
thing like this : 

Rituria, rituria, swilly willy wink um poop. 
Now it was altogether clianged, and but little ribaldry 
was heard. We were now told that we were to retrace 
our steps to Dalton, Georgia, and go thence on to 



A DISAPPOIXTMEXT. 131 

Knoxville, Lynchburg, unci -so on to Kicbniond. As 
we travelled alon^^ we were o^reeted with the wavino- of 
flags from the houses near the j'oad. the people evi- 
dently taking ns for patriots of their own side — those 
of lis who were able raising a derisive cheer in reply to 
such demonstrations. In this part of our journey we 
frequently saw negi'o women ploughing the hiiuls for 
cotton })hinting. The i)loughs were dniwn by single 
mules, and the women sang mournful tunes as they 
followed after. In due time we reached Atlanta jigain, 
and furnished another s])ectacle for the populace. 
From there we proceeded to Dalton Junction, some 
thirty miles south of Chattanooga. Here we were or- 
dered to halt and allow some more pressing freight to 
pass us. Up to this time we had been in ignorance of 
the state of affairs in our late army, but now we got 
an inkling of what had l)een going on, ;ind exnggei'- 
ated the news that was vouchsafed to us by our 
enemies. We were of course correspondingly elated. 
The switehes near the depot at Dalton were well filled 
with loaded trains, and as we were not very efficiently 
guarded, it was not long 1)efore the men found out 
that the cars were loaded with |)rovisions, such as rice, 
corn-meal, sugar, etc. The sugar was in large tierces 
and so was the rice. In the beginning a venture- 
some man broke through the corn-cob stopper of 
.the bung-hole or ins})ection hole of a tierce, and 
scooped out the sugar or rice with an iron spoon, but 
they soon went further, and broke in the heads of the 
casks, and the plunder was then handed out by the 
tin cupful. In a short time the whole party was lib- 
erally supplied, and the guard too got all they wanted. 



lo'Z ^AKKATIVE OF A FRIVATE SOLDIER. 

Tiiese men were not many degrees better, provided 
with food tliun we were ourselves, and had in fact 
stood by and winked at our depredation. 

5. Proceeding on our new route, we reached Knox- 
ville, and realized that we were then in the heart of 
that country made so famous by its ''Union men" 
and '' Union women " during the whole war. That is 
what we called those loyal people. Down South they 
were designated as traitors, as we stigmatized the 
Southern sympathizers living in the North "Co})- 
perheads." We saw much that was gratifying 
to ns in the conduct of tlie people thereabouts, 
and heard from them many saddening stories of 
the horrors of the war. After leaving Knoxville 
we passed through Jonesboro' and several other 
towns of lesser note, and as we approached the 
mountains, we came to a break in the railroad. 
The road i-an over a tongue of land, formed by a river 
doubling in its course. A few days before our coming 
General Carter, of our troo{)s, so we were informed, 
had made a raid through the mountains of soutlieast- 
ern Kentucky, and he and his troops had succeeded 
in destroying the railroad bridge at each place of 
crossing. Thus, when we arrived at the river, we were 
compelled to evacuate the cars, wade the river as best 
we could, and climb the high steep bank on the other 
side. When we had got over we found a man of a 
Michigan cavalry regiment in a iiotel there. He had 
been wounded in the fight incident to the burning of 
the bridges. The wife of the raider General Carter 
was also there, as we were informed. If I am not 
mistaken, I think I wa-^ told that thereabouts was the 



THE WOMEN OF EAST TEXXESSEE. 133 

Genenirs home. 'I'lit' men had to tni(};ie I he distiiiice 
of seven or eight miles to the other l)reak, and wlien 
they arrived they were all very tired and weary. All 
through this section there was dee}» feeling expressed ; 
the neighhoring woods and mountains were tilled with 
men who had l)een outlawed by the Southern authori- 
ties. One old woman, wiiile handing to us some dried 
meat, told us of her husband, who had but recently 
been hung; another, of her husband and son, and all 
because they had dared to be loyal to the Union. The 
children, ragged and dirty as they were, were as in- 
tensely loyal as their more Southern mates were in for 
the Southern Confederacy, and I never heard peo])le 
*' hurrah for Abe Lincoln '' in the Xorth more lustily 
than did those women of East Tennessee. AVhat 
they brought to us out of their meagre stores they 
would accept no pay for. Once 1 succeeded in 
remunerating an enthusiastic lady for some kind- 
ness by handing to her a quantity of })ins and 
needles out of a *' housewife " that some kind 
friend had provided me with, and which up to 
this time had lain quietly uncalled for in the 
bottom of my coat })ocket. It appears that even 
as early as that the whole country was in a woful 
state, when pins and needles were indeed worth more 
than their weight in gold. By-and-by, as we went 
along, we reached Bristol, on the boundary line be- 
tween Virginia and Tennessee. At this place I per- 
ceived my strength giving way. I was very weak by 
reason of lack of proper food and rest, and sick from 
the constant ex})osure. In this condition I deter- 
mined to desert the over large company I was in, and 



134 XAKKATIVE OF A PKIVATE SOLDIER. 

with which J had hitherto kept myself, and so my spe- 
cial partiicr Eogers and I hid onrselves beneath the 
floor of the depot in the town, and there we remained 
until the main column had moved on. Early in the 
ensuing morning we had succeeded in breaking open 
a barrel and getting possession of a (piantity of flour. 
Eluding the guards, we i)roceeded to a house not far 
away, and ]jrevailed on the mistress of it so that she 
got her negro woman to cook a portion of it for us, 
while she retained the remainder for herself as recom- 
pense. I have to take our hostess as a si)ecimen of 
the inhabitants of the counti-y. She Avas very free in 
her manner, and amused us by telling a long story of 
herself. She was a tall, straight woman of about 
thirty-five years of age, of a dark, swarthy complexion, 
and she had black. ])iercing eyes, with suggestively 
pointed features. She told us the difference between 
her kind and the i)eoi)]e through whose country we 
had just passed. Her kind were the real Virginians — 
the others were the "white trash." She herself, ac- 
cording to her story, was a lineal descendant from the 
renowned Pocahontas. As she warmed up we were 
pathetically asked, "What did you-uns come down 
Sooth to fight we-uns for, anyway?" We of course 
declined to enter into the obviously ''irrepressible 
conflict "'of opinions as to that, and by silence inti- 
mated to her that we had given up the conundrum. 
Our apparent defeat was as balm to her, and she en- 
joyed her victory in an ccstacy of triumph ; but she 
magmuiimously acknowledged that there was still no 
reason Avhy '' we-all and you-all" might not yet be 
friends. Bristol was at that time the headquarters of 



IX BRISTOL. VIRCilXIA. 135 

some geneml, iind I tliinls ]iis iiniiic was I{mn))liivv 
Marshall. The town is sifiiatod amid somo onjiid 
scenery, llereahonts we saw on the one liand the 
range of higli mountains called the (nvat 8mokv 
mountains in western Xorth Carolina, and on the 
other the wild, rngged eminences of the Cuml)erland 
range in southeastern Kentucky. After dark of that 
day my com])anion and J went \)y a ]-oundabont wav 
to the other end of the town, and led hv a. ne^■ro. Ave 
went to his master's house foi- supper. Ih^rv we were 
entertained vei-y well, and when asked about jiayment 
the host said he would only take pay, if at -all, in 
greenbacks, because one of liis sons was engaged in 
smuggling medicines and other easily tra'nsported 
goods through the lines from Cincinnati, and could 
therefore use only our money. We were then told 
some of the secrets of the business, and wer(> su i-])rised 
to hear the extent to which it was carried on. We 
were told that there were many houses in our lines, 
and even commandants of jmsts, commissaries, etc. 
in Kentucky, who were in a sort of league with smug- 
glers. As we ]-eturned to the depot we intended to 
keep as far as possible from tlie lieadquarters and other 
places where guards were, but as we went along, we 
came nearly stumbling over a man on sentry. We 
w^ere at first somewhat shocked, but the guard reassured 

us when he saluted us by saying only, " It's a d d dark 

night, isn't it ? " I do not know what reply we made, 
but we hurried as fast as we could to the friendly 
shelter of the depot platform, and laid ourselves down 
to sleep there. When we had thought that our com- 
rades on the cattle cars were far enough in advance 



136 XAKR.VTIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

we ciinie out of hiding and reported to the first officer 
we met. We were tlien phiced upon the reguhir train 
bound east — into the first passenger coach I had been 
in since entering the service. At a phice called 
Wytlieville we mingled with the crowd of Confederate 
officers, and with them partook of the slender break- 
fast sup[)lied by the liotel near the depot. We now 
entered a very wild and mountainous stretch of coun- 
try. The cars in some i)laces seemed to be winding 
up a serpentine road and running in an awful prox- 
imity to dreadful preci})ices. To render the situation 
more dangerous, it must be remembered that the rails, 
cars, and engine were sadly in need of repair. In at 
least one place I saw that the iron rails were loose. 
Most of the time, however, I took the sailor's advice,, 
and kept my eyes aloft, gaziiig at the rugged mountain 
tops that seemed to penetrate above the clouds. Our 
train travelled so fast when compared with the regular 
prisoners' accommodations, that we reached Lynch- 
burg, Virginia, just as our late comrades moved out 
toward Richmond, but too late to be forwarded with 
them. 

G. The town of Lynchburg as a c-uriosity is probably 
well enougli, but as a city it is much different from a 
Methodist's typical Zmn. It is built upon the summit 
and sides of a high hill, and the streets are all ter- 
races. The railroad depot was at a point at the foot 
of the hill upon which the town is built, and there we 
were caused to disembark from the train. We 
trudged up the steep street through the snow, nearly 
a foot deep, and still falling, and amid the jeers and 
ribald shouts of the urchins on the sides of it who were 



IN LYNCHBURG. VIRGINIA. 137 

as ragged as ourselves. 1 was now hareheaded aiul 
nearly barefooted. My sto(!k of clothijig liad l)een 
reduced to a cloth sliirt and a very tliiu blouse, 
with a pair of ragged trousers which failed completely 
to cover my limbs. lu a meal-sack I carried what 
beggarly kit 1 was possessed of. We labored up that 
street until we reached another on which the Provost 
Marshal had his oflice. To that official we were 
reported, and I with a few others was immediately 
thrust into an up})er room, wdiere were already con- 
fined a number of Cotifederate soldiers of a low class, 
and who had committed various offences. The win- 
dows of the room had been boarded up so that but 
little light entered. The place smelled horribly, 
and the prisoners were wallowing in filth. Close to the 
wall on one side were ranged a lot of wooden pails, near- 
ly all of which were filled with filth. 1 beca?ne sick im- 
mediately ui)on my entrance, and must have fainted, 
for I remember re<j nesting to be taken out, and I was 
conducted, how, I do not know, to an area way far 
beneath the level of the street. Here water was 
poured over me, and when I came to myself I recog- 
nized a negro man as one whom I had seen before. I 
found that he also knew me, as did some others of the 
blacks. They had formerly been attached to some 
Massachusetts regiments, and had seen me at Barns- 
tow^n and Poolesville early in the year before. These 
men took me into their quarters and cared for me. 
Most if not all of them had been captured during the 
seven days' fighting on the retreat of McOlellan from 
the front of Richmond, Virginia. One had no scru- 
ples in boasting that he was captured while engaged in 



138 :JfARllATlVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

robbing deud bodies. They bad made escapes^ bui 
were now finally in prison, and served as cooks to the 
other inmates. These negroes were by no means 
ideal slaves, but Boston, New York, and Philadelphia 
men, and remarkably well educated at that. Of their 
shrewdness I saw a great deal. All had plenty of 
money, and in telling of their treatment of me I will 
also be telling how they came by their f nnds. 

Some time prior to my advent the Southern Govern- 
mental authorities had proclaimed a sort of mongrel 
martial law and sequestration of sufficient power and 
strength to seize quantities of alcoholic liquors — whis- 
key, apple jack, etc. — and for which the owners were 
paid only such price as the authorities chose to give, 
be it ever so much below the market value. A cellar 
immediately below the Provost Marshal's office Where 
we were confined had been converted into a sort of 
bonded warehouse or public store, and the whiskey 
that had been seized was stored therein, and it Avas 
then filled Avith apple jack in barrels, worth at the 
market price a great many dollars per gallon. The 
oldest of the negroes, and he who acted as a sort of 
officer over the rest, was in particular a sharp, shrcAvd 
fellow. He had taken an impression of the lock of 
one of the doors by which the great cellar was entered, 
and had possessed himself of a key by which he ob- 
tained access to the spirituous stock. He had for a 
perquisite the fat that was skimmed off from the boil- 
ing of pork and bacon in the cook-house, and this 
stuff he was in the habit of carrying off and selling. 
During the evening he proposed that I should go with 
him and see a little around the town. He assured me 



LIBBY PRISON IN THE PROSPECT. 130 

that I would be perJV'Ctlv s.-ifc wliiic with Inm. iitul 1 
consented. Then he }>r()vi(h'd hiiiiseH' with two pails, 
one of whicli I know was \\\\i'{\ with the wliiskey or 
^'uppU' jack"; the other niiglil have contained .soap 
grease. He took nie away \)\ a (h)or h-ading into a 
k)ng, dark passage; that hail the ap})earai)ce ol" being 
bored through the solid rock, and from which we 
emerged into the street a long distance from the 
pidjlic entrance to the prison. 1 was then conilucted 
through the darkened streets, alleys, byways, and 
hmes, and travelled ui)hill and downhill for half an 
hour or so, when we reached a sort of ** poverty 
corner" of the town, and upon billowing my darkey 
guide I entered a house where there was a negro frolic 
in full blast. 1 say "* negro "' frolic, but there were 
many white men there besides myself. The wdiole was 
presided over by an old white-headed African, and to 
him my ('om|»anion delivered the pails of '"soaj) 
grease." iSoap givase or not, wv \\(}\\> \vy\ welcome 
and had a hilarious time of it. I was not told so, but 
I had reason to sup[)ose that my conductor and the 
host were in some sort of [)arlnershii) : for I saw them 
divide money when the fandango was over, and my 
man demurred to liis i)ro})ortion of *' greenbacks" to 
*' Confeds.'' 8ome time before davlio^ht we were again 
in the kitchen under the prison. 

There remained now no doubt what,ever as to our 
destination. ^' Belle Isle," "Castle Thunder," and 
'* Libby Prison " were now before us, and threatening 
us, each with its horrors. By those who have experi- 
enced the like our feelings are known, but to those 
others who have not it were charity to hide them. I 



140 :naukai(\ K <>f a private soldier. 

do not now rcineinljer how long it. was tluit we re- 
mained ;it Lynchburg". l)iit tliink it was about forty- 
eight hours; then we were sent to Kiehmond. We 
presented a sorry spectacle as we left the cai's at the 
depot in Richmond and marched down Gary street to- 
ward Libby Prison, and again were countermai'ched 
back to a place called for distinction " Castle Light- 
ning." 1 do not know whether the i)lace received 
that name otiicially, Init that is what I heard it 
called. It was situated on a rising gi'ound, and nearly 
a mile west of Libby. It w;is a large, newly erected 
brick building, designed for use as a tobacco factory 
and warehouse. On ent(M-ing it we were conducted to 
the third story, a large, well lighted room, and very 
clean. We found contined there hundreds of citizens 
of the more respectable degrees. Many before their 
capture by Genei'al J. E. H. Stuart at llagerstown had 
been members of the Maryland Legislature, so we were 
told. Many were professional men or gentlemen farm- 
ers and merchants who had been incarcerated for op- 
litical offences agaiiist the Confederate Government. 
There was also a sprinkling of newspaper correspond- 
ents and private adventurers. One of the latter was 
an Englishman, and he amused all wdio listened to his 
threats as to what he and his Goveriiment would do 
when he got free once more. Nearly all were in poor 
spirits, although the majority were engaged in the 
manufacture of all sorts of trinkets possible to be 
made out of beef bones — miniature Bibles and other 
books, rings, pins, and figures. Making copies of the 
traditional Venus seemed a very popular employment. 
Smoking-pipe bowls wc^re also made from laurel root, 



1^ LIBBY PKTSOX AT LAST. 141 

and the fronts of thc^v wvvv cinlu'liislK'.] wirh cni 
figures of the Goddess of rvihei-ly. tii.- .VnicricMii shiclil 
and eagle, or ohlier patriotic deviec DiHVreiit coIoimmI 
sealing-wax was used vvilh good effect hy the IVihle 
and jeweli"v makers, 'i'his did not seem to l)c sneli a 
very dreadful place: indeed, f thought it was very nice 
to he there, if we were to Ite conlined at all. \Ve h;id 
hardly time, however, to congratulate e;ich other on 
our good foi'tune before being oi'dered to move out of 
this coni|)aratively })leasant })lace ; and we again took 
up our line of maix-h to Libhy I^rison. 

7, Tliis was a- weary m;irch. and when at length we 
reached the famous place nnd had remained for an 
hour in the cold street below, we felt a soi-t of easy 
resignation as we filed into the low, dark enti'v that 
formed the poi-tal of the gloomy [)rison. We wei-e not 
allowed to pi-oceed u)i st;iii-s. howcvt'r. until wc iuid 
passed the ordeal of scarc'i by t!ic commanding otlicer, 
and the whole of what was left of our kit and ])ocket 
knick-knacks were duly de])osited tlii-ough a hole in 
the wall, something like a theatre box office, into the 
custody of our jailo:-. This done, we wcj-e })ermitted 
to ascend to the second story, and wei'e allowed to fall 
u[)on the filthy fioor to rest, if that were possible. 
Libby Prison had also been a toljacco warehouse, but 
it was not so modernly built as Castle Lightning. The 
ceilings in Libby were scarcely six feet from the floor, 
and all the light and ventilation our room received 
was through three windows in the front, which were 
almost wholly boarded up, and three others in the 
rear, which were broken sufficiently to let in a little 
air. In the right-hand corner of the rear there w^as a 



142 .NAiiKAin i: of a private soldier. 

small place parMtioned off as for a sink, but whatever 
might have been its intended use, it smelled horribly. 
The front was on Carv street, and tlie sidewalks Avere 
constantly patrolled by aimed guai'ds, whose orders 
were to shoot on the slightest provocation. That they 
had received snch })rovocation and had obeyed orders 
was attested l)y tbH biilIel-bo!e> in tlie slivitters and in 
t-he beaiii.> al>o\c. umJ \\hicii \fere >«igijilicaiirly sliuw n 
to us when made accjuainted with the ruJes of the in- 
stitution. Tlie windows in the rear overlooked a 
canal, and just beyond that was the James river, full 
of rocks and veiy i-ough. On our right hand we could 
see a long railroad bridge spanning the rivei', and to 
our front or left an island in the river, which, as we 
were informed, was the famous or irrfamous "Belle 
Isle." The room in which we were confined was 
about tAventy-tive feet wide and ran the full depth of 
the building. In it there wci-e two hundred and fifty 
or even more of us quartered. As soon as we were 
fairly locked u}) an ancient negro entered with an iron 
])ot, in whicii were some fumigating agents, in his 
hand. He set tire to the mixture, and as he swung 
the pot around him like an incense holder, he sang a 
sort of African song. The fumigation only made a 
worse smell than there had been before, but he fur- 
nished a good deal of amusement to those who were 
able to laugh. AYe came pretty near incurring severe 
extra punishment on the first night of our stay at this 
place. Many of us had constantly hoped for a speedy 
deliverance, and our spirits were not entirely broken. 
About ten o'clock thiit night all was quiet except an 
occasional groan from some poor fellow whose wound 



A PRISOX IXCIDENTT. 143 

had beon touched hy his iicxl ixMiiiihor ; for we hiy 
tlieiv in s})()()n fiishioii, jitid it \\;is mipossihlc for one 
to move l);ind or foot ^\•illlont (list iiihinu- the next, 
man. Some oik* in a far eonier let out a cat-eali. then 
anolhei", and in a u-ondci-fnlly shoil tinie lliei'e was 
l)andeinonium. Cats. <h)L!S, hyenas, hofscs. and in 
short all niannef of l)easts were imirattnl. 'Idiis I'aised 
the guard. a:i I w^ wer^ no; (juit'ted until threats of 
shooting had been nuiile. ddie uproar busted for neai'- 
ly an hour, and then we heard tlie sentry on the street. 
cry out in the old style: "Eleven o'clock, and all's 
well at post number seven." 1 will not relate here the 
sad exjieriences of that ten oi* more days in i)rison. I 
shudder now as I attemjit to recall the fears, the ago- 
nies, the hopes deferred, and the melancholy sights 
around me. I often wonder why so puny and insigni- 
ficant a person as I was did n<^t suecund) altogether. 
But ]>crha])s my vciw littleness saved me. Many of 
our men died thei-e aftei' having borne the hardship of 
our long transpoi-tation. and although the most se- 
verely wouutled were given some ti-eatment, a great 
pro[)ortion gave uji the battle of life. The weather 
was intensely cold while we were there, and we were 
ex[)osed to its inclemency. This resulted in the pre- 
nniture cutting oft' of many and in the lifelong disabil- 
ity of many more. 

1 remember that it was with feelings of indescriba- 
ble joy that we received intelligence that we were to 
be speedily delivered into the hands of our own Gov- 
ernment. We had been told so before, but now, 
when volunteers were called for to assist in making 
out muster rolls, we were assured that our time had 



14:4 ^SAKKAilVK OF A PRIVATE .SOLDIER. 

come. Willing hand^ by tlio score offered to do tlie 
work, and tiiplicate rolls were soon made out. It was 
not, lu>wever, until we were safely embarked upon a 
train of rougb freight cai's, bound for City Point, that 
every fear was removed. Then, as we moved away, 
the men seemed to be reanimated with their former 
spirits, and desi)ite the sti-oiig guard, they indulged in 
uproarious hilarity. As in the early part of our cap- 
tivity, the Germans sang songs; others told stories, and 
almost all were discussing the probability of receiving 
furloughs when they reached the North. I am nearly 
sure that many secretly h()[)ed that it would be some 
time before our army captured a sufficient number of 
the enemy so as to have them to exchange for us. We 
went through Petersburg, but in dilferent spirits 
from those we had entered other towns. As we 
drew near to City Point the scene became interest- 
ing; the more rolmst got out and danced upon the 
tops of the cars, and tired off huzzas at everything ; 
but when at last our train rounded a hill that 
brought us within sight of the river and the flag of 
truce boats lying there, the scene that ensued beggars 
description ; the able-bodied men danced like so many 
children on a holiday, and the poor sick and wounded 
pressed their faces against the openings of the cars 
and sadly smiled when they were told that our flag 
Avas there as well as the flag of truce. One poor 
fellow had slept, and when he awoke he hardly 
believed it to be true, but when another man and my- 
self made way for him to see, he was overjoyed, and 
fell back as if dead. It took us some time to go 
through the forms of being delivered over. Our 



nRLRAsni) rnnM rAPTrvTTY. 145 

namns woiv mlU.! (uuu \Ur rolls, nn,] ;i. uv juiswpmi 
'^'^ wcjv o-ivM, np „,,,!,.!• t!;(. (MrcrtK.n .,f ('(.ionH] 
Ou](], the S..Ml!i,.r,i ('on:ii!isr-i..iirr. ;ij!,! ;i,,.,iro we 
went ()!! to oiii- nwii Covci-iijDciit's Ix.iii. the '• Meta- 
moni."" '!"lic ix^lvi odifri-s ;!i)ri ,-.<,], Ii,.,-s on (1.ifvl,(Te 
wnrp the l.csi .!n-s(.i ,ncii I li:,<l seen in the South. 
Our ()liic(M-s .-iixl 11,01! ioo ucrc most lil.cntllv hcdivked 
^vith o-oi.l hicc^tii, ><■!.;!!,(! ..olisiird l)i'ass, niwi the l,usi- 
liPsswas coiKliictccl in v,u vWvouwh ]in]\\v nu<] di<riiifie(i 
manner on l.otji sid(>.-;. In comjiaiiv wirli another 
steamsJiip. the "New York." we .^teamed doAvn the 
James river, and anehored nea]- tlie bh)ekadino- ^quiu]~ 
ron for that nigdit. ]\IeaiiAvhi]e a glorious nition of 
hot cofif'ee. fresli bread, and meat was issued to us, and 
an additional ration of sou]) to those in need of special 
nourishment. The voyaoe u]) the Chesapt^ake l)ay 
was made without any si)eeial ineidenl. or if any 
occurred. T w.-is not in a condiiioii (o notiee ihem"; 
neither can I icll whcrli-er we were thirty or thirtv-hve 
days in the hands of the (nieiny : we" had i)r()i)ably 
been tliere the Jonovst rime n)entioned. When we 
renclied Annapolis. Mnryland. we disembarked at the 
Oovernment doek at the Xaval Academy, at wldch 
place we left the sick and wounded to have their hnrts 
attended t.o. The j-est of ns marched through the 
])lace to the camp of the paroled men just out'^side of 
the town. Although the snow was deep, and we had 
not yet l)een furnished with new clothing, yet we did 
not feel the exi)osare as much as we did that which 
we experienced at Richmond. The change of posses- 
sion had worked that much for ns. Veiy soon after 
we arrived at Camp Parole we received good supplies 



146 XAKKAilVK OF A PRIVATE SOLDIETl. 

of warm cloiliing and camp and garrison equipage. 
When we li;id secured a sui)])ly of clothing we went 
into tlie city and put ourselves into the hands of a 
harber. 1 was scared at my jiersonal appeai'ance, and 
how the negroes in Lynchburg managed to recognize 
me I cannot imagine. On one side of my chin I wore 
a long tuft of straggling hairs, and on the other 
scarcely any at all, while my u[)per li}) looked as if it 
had been smeared with n finger of molasses. After 
shaving, bathing, and dressing in my new clothes I 
was led by curiosity to weigh myself, and found that I 
turned the scales at just a little less than seventy-five 
pounds ! I had never weighed more than a pound or 
two above a hundred, but now I was miserably poor. 
Indeed, the bones nearly protruded through the flesh, 
my cheeks were hollow, and tlie skin on my face Avas 
dried to the consistency of a drum-head, and all this 
change in less than forty days ! I was in a manner 
ashamed of myself as I tried to laugh, and caught the 
effort in a mirror, where I saw a most horrible picture. 
While in the town I imprudently indulged in eating 
oysters to excess, and on my return to camp, I dearly 
paid for it by becoming very ill. The surgeon, having 
exan^ined me, gave the very cheering information that 
my heart was too weak to force a circulation, and if it 
was otherwise, that thei'e was no blood in me to 
circulate. Afterward I became so sick that my 
life was not worth very much. I was thoroughly 
exhausted, and when I got better I found that 
I had undergone pretty severe treatment. I had 
been placed on infants' diet, I had been cupped 
and lanced aver the region of the heart, and 



IN CAMI- f'AK'OI.r:. A\-\A|'0[,]>. MAHVLA\[). 147 

^- '' '^""-^ '" '^ •ulv p.-ii-!. Mi i-\'l,v!i;i!-v, jSO;! wluMI 

^"•' '^'■'■'^'''' ■'' A.. !>;.).,!,.. and <no„ ;,!•,;, M,,,i, i \,, 
^^■•■'•'' in.ist.M-.Mi for ,i,ii,.r..r m Si. Lon,s. M,>M,n,-i. 

>ontln.n, (..„]>.!. nu-^ ,,,,,1 u . ^w.■.. ,.x.-h;.n..v,l. i , w,. 

place inuii tlu. exclian-e u a. clTecLe.J, ami a< we uerc 
\\<-srM-n fn.o,,>, w. n,M-(. onl.Mv.l to S,. Lo„,.., A[i,.- 
soun.scas t.) I,e ncanM- 0,1 r n-u-iin.Mils. I |,a,l Ihhmi u-i<e. 
enough in wnroto .nv (.Mupany co.njnn.xh.r nnm.Mli- 
at(.ly on n,y arrival a. Annajmlis a.,-! aj.plv for n.v 
DescriptivP KoH. and l,ad been forhmnte in VmMvinir 
It H, chiv or two before l^nvino- for the West. This 
placed me in a nnich more favorable jmsirion than tliat 
of many others. We started on onr jonrm.v to ,he 
AVesf il.rongh lialtin.ore an. I ov,.r ihe IJalnniore 
;ind Ohio railroad, and once „,Mn. thai i-.,,,,, hi<diway 
I realized ihal I had eon,,, lei, mI sncdi a circle of^t ravel 
^mda<lventnreas I nev.r ha<l before and had no desire 
^" ■•'''^•o'npli.^l' again. Onr connnand not beino- in 
hghtmg trnn. the rnn was not made will, verv quick 
'l''spatch. \\,. slopped at several points ahmo- the 
'■oa.l to allow n,o,-e urgently m-eded freight to pjj^s us 
At one place in West Virginia, and not far from 
Piedmont, we stopped, and tlie men who had arms 
indulged ,n a bear hunt in the mountains, but 
they did not succeed in capturing Bruin. As 
soon as we entered the confines of the State of Ohio 
our numbers began to decrease perceptibly : many of 
the men were not far from their homes, or where they 



ItO ^AKKATIVK OF A PKIVATE 60LD1EE. 

had kindred, and sncli of them had no difficnlty in 
leaving ns. As we rolled along we were treated to all 
the necessary food required, and many of the luxuries 
furnished hy the country were showered upon us. We 
were looked upon as so many heroes. At many places 
the people had heard of our approach, and were pie- 
pared when we reached them with cooked meats, 
bread, and drink. Avhich they gave to us. AVhen we 
reached Dayton, Ohio, we wei'e shown newsi)a})ers in 
which we were described as murderers, cut-throats, 
and robbers ! People were warned to look out for 
"Rosecrans' Bummers," and advised to take order 
for the protection of their towns from pillage. The 
paper was duly noted, and the "Richmond Jeffer- 
sonian " was doomed. This treatment of us caused an 
intense feeling of indignation among the men. We 
were indeed an orderly set. comparatively speaking ; 
most of the men were wounded, and all happy that 
they were in a friendly country, too much so to think 
of robbery, to say nothing of murder. Whatever 
boisterousness the men had n\) to this time exhibited 
was, as far as I saw, altogether devoid of the spirit of 
mischief. When we arrived at the beautiful town of 
Richmond, Indiana, it was Saturday night, I think, 
and we learned that we would have to remain at least 
twenty-four hours. Like as at other places, the ci tizens 
(many of those at Richmond were Quakers) provided 
ample quantities of cooked food for us to eat. When 
we had been there a few hours some extra patriotically 
inclined citizens supplemented their gifts with more 
than one demijohn of whiskey. Sunday morning 
more was brought to u?. and whole troops of country 



THE '• Kirn MOM) .iKiir;i;soNiAX "' r)i:>iii«»VKi». 119 

people ilockcd into the l <>\\ ii .-iinl iiiiiiu-lcd fi'crly jDnon-^^ 
US. Along tow.-ird nii:'!)! the li<|ii<>r Ii.-k! Im'l:'iiii t" t.ikc 
effect iii>oii the lic.-id.- of lli<»r w lio li;id iiidiilLied in it ; 
pnper> lu uliidi we li.-id Ix'cii so urn^sh .-ilnix'd Wfre 
shown. !ind llic fccliiiL:" <>!' iniliu^n.-il i<>n \v:i> i-ckindlcd, 
Tlic etlV'ct \\;is llnit :\\'{i'V d;ii'k :i Jnoh oC :d>(Mit livu 
liiindre<j of oui' int'ii marched n|>th(' huii;- foad ieailing 
'to lh(,' main -tfcct of tlie town and attacked the otlice 
of tlie j)apcr. Il was the same "* IJielunond .IclTcf- 
sonian*'lhat was shown to iis in Davlon. Oiiio. In 
less than ten miniiK's (he whole estahlishmeni was 
gutted : n<»t a type font was left nor a press nnhroken ; 
whole eases of type and ents of all kinds re(jniivd in a 
counti-y newspapef oltiee. and large <pian titles of 
paper, were thrown higgledy-piggledy throngh the 
windows on to the sidewalk aiid street; and the en- 
raged men did not leave off until they had e<)mpl('ted 
the w<M"k hv de>l roving evci'vthing they e(Mild find he- 
longing to the i)a|»er. The ])ul)lisher was sear(died 
foi*. hilt in \ain. It was said that hai-j'ing his })(dities 
he was a goo(l man. and a religi(»iis one too, and that 
he kept a Hihle st(n-<' in the ne\t s(pia)-e ; l)nt if he 
had Ijeen found that night, all his sanctitieation would 
not have saved him from a :^e\Qvt' thrashing ; {>erhaps 
he might have l)een hanged to a himp-post. Next 
morning our deed was ap})lauded by many of the citi- 
zens ; but they had aroused a spirit they could not 
control, and on the whole they were lieartily ghid when 
they saw us safely on our train and moving out. 

9. When our train reached Paris, in Edgar county, 
Illinois, I found that the company of men in whose 
charge I had been placed had vanished. I alone was 



loU AAKKATi\j; OK A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

left of tl)oni :i!i. and under those circumstances I also 
al)andoned tlie train with the intention of going to 
Loda and recruiting my liealtli there before reporting 
at St. Louis. Mv way led me to the north throujrh a 
well cultivated cham})aign country, and at one place 
tbrougli an exclusively Quaker settlement. At the 
house of one of th;it sect, named Williainson, I think, 
I stopped one night, and was treated in a manner that 
left no doubt of my welcome or of his kindness of 
heart. This Avas my first opportunity for storv- 
telling, nnd I kept the old gentleman and his wife and 
daughter up out of their beds until what was to them 
a most unreasonjible hour. I passed on to Danville, 
where I visited the coal mines then but recently de- 
veloped on Vermillion river. Here I metAvith several 
countrymen of mirie. and rested a day or two with 
them. Finally, I took the cars at Danville for 
Champaign, and thence on to Loda, where I remained 
something like a week, the guest of my friends the 
Weavers. I was ecfually liusily engaged in rehearsing 
my story and in the enjoymePft of recreative exercise. 
About April 1 I stai-ted on my way to St. Louis. On 
the 4th I reached Springtield, the capital of the State 
of Illinois, and reported to Colonel Morrison, IT. S. A., 
commanding. He was an old veteran, and had a blotchy, 
battle-scarred face ; he was gouty, too, and cross, 
although he vented no bad temper upon me. He 
gave me permission to go about the city and see what 
was to be seen, and entered a formal order reciting my 
report to him, and directing me to proceed to St. 
Louis, Missouri. I remained in Springfield some 
days, visiting many places o-f note, among others the 



AT BENTOX BARKArKS. MO. lol 

State Capitol, the thvellin,ii" liou.seot' I'rc^ident Lincoln, 
etc. On the lOth of April I ari-ived at Benton Har- 
racks, near St. Louis, and reported in person to 
Colonel B. L. E. Bonneville, U. S. A., eonmianding 
the post. He was another old veteran like unto Mor- 
rison. I was immediately detailed by special order to 
remain at headquarters in the nominal capacity of 
Post Bugler, but in reality my duties were as a clerk 
in the office of the Post Adjutant. 



CHAPTER VI. 

COVERS THE TIME DURING WHICH I REMAINED AT 
THE POST OF BENTON BARRACKS, NEAR ST. LOUIS, 
MO., AND EMBRACES FROM APRIL 10, 1863, TO 
DECEMBER 29, 1863, THE LATEST DATE BEING 
THAT OF MY DISCHARGE FROM THE SERVICE OF 
THE UNITED STATES AS PRIVATE OF COMPANY 
''b" EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT OF INFANTRY 
ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS. 

1. At the first thought I concluded that an account 
of my life at Benton Bari-acks would necessarily in- 
clude a lengthy dissertation upon the '* technique" of 
army life — the peculiar arrangements existing there, 
treating of the various officers and tlieir sei)arate du- 
ties, and methods of performing them ; but I have 
since amended my 2:>lan so that I will only give in this 
place a general account of my experiences at the 
post, and when I am bound to mention anything be- 
yond the legitimate limits of such a project I will en- 
deavor to be as brief as possible. My nominal office, 
as I have already stated at the conclusion of the pre- 
ceding chapter, was that of " Post Bugler," but upon 



POST Br(4LER. ] .YS 

the day of my arrival I was ^sct to work in the oHice 
of the Post Adjutant, and assisted in tiie preparntioii 
and making- out of what was called a *' 'I'ri-Monthlv 
Post Return." That document comju'ised an official 
statistical account and history of the i)ost for the i)re- 
vious ten days ; the num!)er of othcers and men. their 
several names, ra.nks. companies, and regiments, and 
the nature of the details or those who wcj'e on special 
duty; also the names, i-a.-ik. and regiment of all who 
had died or been transferred during that period ; and 
much other information prescribed by the rules of 
the Adjutant (renei-aJ.*s Otlice. I was not long in be- 
coming familiar with tiie requirements of that branch 
of the l)iisiness, but I was altogether relieved of it 
within a- few days, and installed at a sei)arate desk, 
having in iny charge tiie issue of })asses to go in or 
out of the camp lines. I soon l)cgan to recruit my 
health, and in about a month I had procured a small 
shar[vtoned l)ngle, and one morning I surprised the 
Post I) i!id by sounding the "first call," with a num- 
ber of vaiiations possil)le on that instrument. The 
post of Benton BaiM-acks was situated on what was 
called Grand Avenue, and included the Fair Grounds 
belonging to the Agricultural Society of St. Louis 
and a large tract of land adjoining on the Avest. The 
whole of the Fair Grounds, with the numerous build- 
ings, large and small, belonging to it, were monopo- 
lized, and used as a sort of General Hospital. This 
General Hospital was almost entirely independent of 
the post, and was carried on under the direction of 
Surgeon Ira Russell, U. S. V. Colonel B. L. E. 
Bonneville was, as I have said, our post commander. 



154 :^^ARRATIVE OF A PR^^A.TE SOLDIER. 

He was a short, fat old gentleman of French-Canadian 
extraction. He had been in the military service of 
the United States for forty or fifty years, and had al- 
ready been retired, and was now restored to the active 
list, and doing duty as Chief Commissary of Musters 
for the Department of the Missouri besides being 
Commander of the post. The Colonel had seen ser- 
vice in all of the various wars the country had been 
engaged in during the many years of his career, but 
what he appeared to be most particularly proud of 
was the fact that when comparatively a youth, and 
only a Captain in the army, he had explored tlic 
Rocky mountains and gone through ever so many ad- 
ventures and hair-breadth escapes, and had been given 
up as lost for a time ; his account of which had been 
edited or written by no less a personage in literature 
than Washington Irving. I saw the book. It was 
about the size of this of mine ; and although it would 
be presumptuous in me to criticise so august a writer, 
still I cannot foi-bear saying that I have seen many 
works of the Prince of American authors in which he 
displayed his genius to a degree immeasurably beyond 
that which he appears to have employed in editing or 
writing the Colonel's narrative. The Post Com- 
mander had for his Acting Assistant Adjutant Gene- 
ral a handsome, dashing, and young Lieutenant, A. 
J. Newby, who belonged to some Iowa regiment. 
Lieutenant Newby not only had a handsome face and 
a fine carriage to recommend him, but he was besides 
a very good, kind, and gentlemanly officer. Above 
all he was a master of the '' Spencerian " system of 
hand-writing, and his penmanship was as handsom_e 



POST HEAF>QrAKTF:R^5. 155 

as his face. His sioriatiuv wus a model for all to 
copy. Our Post Adjutant, however, sadly interfered 
with Lieutenant Newby's designs, if lie had any, on 
the affections of the Post Coinniainhint's prettv niece. 
Lieutenant N.Brosseau was. from Kankakee. Illinois, 
and was not only of the same extraction as the Colo- 
Jiel, but he was withal a handsome, modest voung fel- 
low, and, what ca|»ped his (jualiticjttions, he was a de- 
vout Roman Catholic in religion: so that, no matter 
how often the lady went out riding under the escort 
of the iH)nderous Acting Assistant Adjutant General, 
it was Lieutenant Brosseau who invariably got the 
honor of gallanting her to and from church. Iowa 
men, or men belonging to regiments from that State, 
were in the great majority around Head(juarters. In 

the Post Adjutant's office l)esides myself was 

McHenry, a little red-com[)le.vioned, shrivelled uj) old 
man from the north of Ireland. Mac was a patient, 
reli^jble, ;ind steady man with his figures and pen, and 
li\ed e-itirely contented if he had the uninterrnpted 
enjoyment of two privileges, as he was pleased to term 
them. The lirst was immunity from "botheration" 
when at work at his "reports," and the second was 
the exercise of unrestrained liberty in the queer no- 
tions he had of the laws of health. He would 
rather pay twenty-five cents at any time than 
indulge in a " s([uare meal," being content with 
bread and water, i)rovided the former contained a 
proper proportion of phosphorus or other alleged brain 
food ; and he liked to sit under the flow of a water 
pipe and allow the cold fluid to run down his naked 
back for an hour at a time. The post headquarters 



156 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE 80LDIER. 

itself was a large, substantial mansion, situated in the 
centre of the parade ground, and tlie Post Adjutant's 
office was in a building of more modest pretensions 
near by. Next door to our office, but in the same 
building, was the U. S. Military Telegraph Office, and 
that was presided over by Mr. and Mrs. Marean. 
They were a childless couple, she fat, curly-headed, 
and jolly, he thin and straight-faced. The headquar- 
ters men used to make of the telegraph office a sort 
of rendezvous ; that is, such of them as were specially 
musically inclined. There were in it guitars, flutes, 
and I believe a piano, and we always got the air of 
the latest patriotic song or hymn for the first time at 
Marean's. In the main building there were Captain 
Guerin, a citizen. Chief Clerk to the Commissary of 
Musters, and Jones, Windsor, and Wadsworth, clerks. 
The latter had also the duties of Postmaster added to 
his share. Amos M. Currier was on the other side of 
the hall, as Chief Clerk to the A. A. A. General. A. 
M. Currier was a nice little, intellectual looking man,, 
and as honest and kind as his api)earance betokened 
him. He wore long silky lu'own whiskers and full 
beard and moustache, and on the whole was such a 
person as goody-goody boys like to have for a school- 
master. There were some other clerks there — a Zacli 
King and a King No. 2, but I have forgotten the 
names of the rest. They were all men of Iowa regi- 
ments, and Mount Pleasant, McGreggor's Landing, 
Washington, or Des Moines, Iowa, invariably marked 
the letters they received. My duty was now confined 
to the issuing of passes not only to officers and men 
who desired to leave the camp for business or pleasure, 



BATHIKG [N TlIK MlSSISSirPI. lo7 

but also to s»i(jh otlu-r porsuus (civilian,-) who^.r l.n>i- 
ness or curiosity reijuired tliat they should conic into 
or jjo out of the lines of the post. Most of the hitter 
were male and female peddlers of fruit, fancy goods, etc. 
2. As the fine weather came on I found n>y situation 
quite eomfortable and easy. The routine of my labor 
was light, and I found at my disposjd considerable 
leisure time to go and come. I frequently visited the 
city and what places of interest there were there and 
in the surrounding country. Before the summer was 
much advanced I had purchased a fleet }K)ny of the 
mustang breed, and on its back 1 often rode for miles 
around and through the adjacent country. I ])re-' 
scribed for my health's benetit frequent and furious 
coursings a)on<2: the " King's Highway," a road that 
ran from the river aiK)ve the city to the river a long 
way beyond it below, often going as far as Carondelet 
without turning. I visited the scene of an early tri- 
umph for tiie Union cause — Cam}) Jackson — just out- 
side the city, where a military camp of Rebels was 
sui-prised in l!S(U, the men captured, and the State 
assured to remain in the Union. During the summer 
we used to go past the La Clede Iron Works, and 
thence on to an ancient ferry on the Mississippi river 
to bathe. The place wa.s none of the best, owing to 
the treachery of the current, and tradition was plenti- 
ful that catfish thereabout were as large as porpoises, 
and when caught invariably had within each one of 
them from a quarter to a half of a human body. I 
remember that I used to look upon the whole ferry 
and the scene as the same as that memorable one de- 
scribed in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." 



158 XARRATIYE OF A PRIA'ATE SOLDITYl. 

About this time the Goveriuneiit f()und itself with 
a large number of men on its luinds who luid been 
rendered unfit for field service by reason of wounds 
and amputations, and the order authorizing and di- 
recting the formation of the "Invalid Corps" was 
promulgated. On general princii)les the objects of 
the order were apphluded by all, as it was considered 
no more than right and just that the (Teneral Gov-' 
ernment should retain in its service and pay as many 
of its disabled veterans as it needed and who were capa- 
bleof performing clerical and otlierdutiesakin to them. 
Men with but a single leg or arm, instead of l)eing 
thrown back ujwn tlie friends and communities 
which they had left behind them, in the receipt 
merely of a })altry pension, were suitably placed in po- 
sitions where the Government could utilize tlicir tal- 
ents and at the same time well afford to pay theordi- 
nary wages. Under these arrangements there was a 
good regiment organized in 8t. Louis by Colonel Al- 
exander, an old veteran of the Regular Army. There 
never was a word uttered that I heai'd in any man- 
ner derogatory to the organization until the authori- 
ties in Washington decided that other than those who 
were wounded and maimed might be i-eceived into the 
corps ; but now it was that many great and notorious 
-cowards, men who were full of fear of the dangers in- 
cident to an active career in the field, officers as well 
as soldiers, made a grand rush for admission to mem- 
bership in the "Invalid Corps." Certificates of Dis- 
ability were almost dignified with a market value, and 
the prices soon ascended to a high figure, and because 
** Chronic Diarrhaa '* avus the prevailing complaint 



THE rXVAI-ID CORPS. 151» 

alleged by such dishonorable men in theii a[>p]ication.s 
for transfer, the whole coi'ps fell into disrepute ; and 
although the designation of it was ortieiallv changed 
from " The Invalid Corps'* to "The Veteran Reserve 
Corps," still it rarely got that name sa\e on paper 
and in very polite society. In all other places it was 
stigmatized as "The Diarrlxea Corps." In my posi- 
tion and by my associations 1 was enabled to ^ee a 
great deal of the inside workings of the organization, 
and 1 can truly say that it was really disgusting when 
not amusing to hear the stories of some applicants for 
transfer. Dr. Lra Russell used to tell us some of 
their stories: how one officer ottered three hundred 
dollars for the necessary certiticate ; another tendered 
a mortgage on his farm ; others begged and })rayed to 
the medical authorities for their assistance. All this 
time there was no difficulty in a proper person be- 
ing transferred. Poor George Rodney of my company 
wanted a certiticate very badly, but he succeeded only 
in becoming an inmate as a convalescent of the Gene- 
ral lIosi)ital. There one day he proved himself enti- 
tled to some indulgence, for he succumbed to the ef- 
fects of disease contracted in the service, and died 
and was buried. It was Kodney against whom the 
Colonel, on that memorable night before Thanksgiv- 
ing, the previous year, had especially directed his de- 
nunciations because Geoi'ge had his musket with him, 
and from that it was to be inferred that he intended 
to use his weapon against defenceless people. The 
climax of interest in the "Diarrhoea Corps" was 
reached when, not long afterward, a law was proposed 
in the National Legislature having for its object the 



160 XARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

consolidation of the corps into coni})act regiments, 
and the incorporation of the whole with the Regular 
Army. Under the pressure of tlie intense spirit of 
patriotism or super-patriotism then prevailing, and 
amid the confusion and turmoil incident to the state 
of war the country was then in, the act was passed, 
and the eminent promoters of tlie measure had per- 
formed services tliat entitle them to be vividly remem- 
bered, perhaps differently by different people. Under 
this law the grossest injustice and unfairness was en- 
acted, for while thousands ui)on thousands of good 
men were wounded or otherwise disabled, they dul 
not care for or seek to fasten themselves upon the 
Government for life, but were coijteut to return to 
their homes as patriotic citizen soldiers, on the con- 
trary, with the incorporation into the Regular Army 
of the Veteran Reserve C()ri)s, the officers belonging 
to that organization became equal in the tenure of 
their commissions to those who had devoted their 
lives, from extreme youth to old age. to the service of 
their country. The result was tliat on the conclusion 
of the war the country found upon its hands a batch 
of officers wdiom it could not get rid of except on half 
pay. It may be interesting in the near future to see 
Colonel Bonneville, U. S. A., and others of his class 
and services, on a social and official equality with 
''Colonel Swashbuckler, U. S. A.," erstwhile a corner 
lounger in some country town in the far North. 
Many persons like the last-named gentleman (?) will 
secretly thank the luck that deprived them of a limb 
apiece when they complacently draw half pay, while 
the more unfortunate comrade, of equal rank and sei-- 



0I7I{ MESS. 161 

vices, turns the crank of liis liaud-organ on the corner 
of the street and receives the pitifall}^ small pension 
awarded to him by his grateful country. 

5. There was no complaint possible to be made in 
relation to our domestic economy. Here occurs a 
break in the almost constant talk of matters in rela- 
tion to what was for oui- eating ; there is not now 
much solicitude about rations, and we had no longer 
to think of the wherewithal for dinner before we had 
disposed of our breakfast. "Our mess" was com- 
posed of most of the clerks engaged in and about the 
Post Headquarters, and we had a cook all to ourselves. 
Sam Fry was office-orderly to the Colonel command- 
ing and general purveyor for the mess. He was in 
every respect a first-class ''gob!)ler." Sam was be- 
sides a Jolly fellow, of grciit experience and always full 
of fun. In jiis career he had l)een an auctioneer, 
a clown in Dan Rice's circus ; he had driven a stage- 
coach for years, ;ind when he enlisted he had just 
dropped the handles of his plough, Cincinnatus like, 
on a farm up in Iowa. Th^re were also three or four 
men from the General Hospital — apothecaries, hospi- 
tal stewards, etc, — in the complement. We occupied 
a separate house, and altogether were very comforta- 
ble. Sam Fry drew regular rations for all of us except 
Jones. Jones got commutation money instead, and 
paid a stated sum for his board. The rest were 
taxed about one dollar a week, and with the fund 
thus collected Sam Fry provided such seasonable arti- 
cles of diet as were not included in the legal ration. 
How the cook got her pay 1 have forgotten, but I have 
an indistinct recollection of there having been an un- 



162 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

derstanding all around that she was expected to steal 
enough to compensate her for her services. The 
troops stationed at Benton Barracks at the time I am 
writing about were almost entirely composed of unex- 
changed paroled men, with a small force of others 
acting as a provost-guard ; but other troops made of 
the post a sort of temporary stojiping place on the 
journey going south. When any such did favor us with 
their company there was great excitement at headquar- 
ters. On ordinary occasions it was the merest matter of 
form to mount the guard. Tlie work was often done 
by either McHenry or myself, each in our turn actiii:r 
as Adjutant and Sergeant-Major all in one, and the 
Post Band often outnumbered by two to one the whole 
detail for guai'd duty. When it hapjiened that a })attal- 
ion or regiment of men came to be our guests, the 
first thing that usually occurred to McHenry was to 
make a detail for the ensuing day, taking care to 
draw a requisition for sufMcient men and officers to 
make the ceremony imposing. One such occasion 
was on the 12th of October. 1803, when, about noon- 
tide, we were startled by the strong and measured 
sounds of many bugles, and by a great amount of 
drumming and fifeing. McHenry was in ecstasies, 
and none of us were very sorry for the })romise of an 
enlivening of the routine of duty. We had not long 
to wait before we were cheered by the sight of a 
sturdy column of infantry en route. This proved to 
be the Tenth Minnesota Infantry Volunteers. It had 
just returned from General Sibley's exi)edition against 
the Dakota or Sioux Indians. The forces of the ex- 
pedition had pursued the red-skins to and beyond the 



\f r>r.VE.soTA TKot^rs -uta kd -motxt. 1G:> 

Missouri Uivcr, ;ni«l ;ilrli(mi:h the men li.-id seen very 
hard service, stili the wliole l»riu-:i le <»f w'lich this re- 
gitiUMit formed a pirt li;i 1 lo>t only ei^^'lit men. The 
otTieers and men of the re,uiment were as ;i rule tall, 
fine, able-bodied men. roiiii;b in exterior and bronzed 
l»v exposui-e, nnd to a dot they tilled the re<(nirenients 
of ;i o-ood picture of the ideal pioneers of our Western 
country. The reo-iment was well armed with the lat- 
«'-^t improved pnttern of the S[>rinoticld rifled musket. 
Friend Mc Henry did not wait long. l)ut sent ;i i-e(|uisi- 
tioii for the attendance on the morrow of a most re- 
spectable sized detnil, and during the afternoon, when 
the Ninth regiment from the same State arrived in 
catnp, it only caused McHenry to make out another 
detail to augment the number to report. During the 
whole of that evening nothing was talked about in our 
set save the grand guard-mounting there was to be on 
the next morning. There were to be eighty })rivates, 
a ((uota of non-commissioned officers, and three shoul- 
der-strapped gentlemen to boot. Early next morning 
we were astir. McIIenry had conned his part as Ser- 
geant Major well, and was waiting. But alas for his 
jiopes of distinction I the Post Band had not yet con- 
ed uded its morning salutation of reveille when the 
l)and of the Ninth Minnesota struck up the "General 
Assembly." Soon afterward the regiment was in line, 
column formed, and the command, '' Forward" given. 
Then they left us as they came, without a word of ex- 
planation, not even submitting their reports to post 
headquarters. When the time came for Guard- 
mounting we were compelled to be content with the 
usual beggarly detail of Provost Guardsmen for duty. 



164 NAllHATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIEU. 

The performance of my duties as Pass Clerk brought 
me in contact with many queer and interesting cliar- 
acters. About tlie middle of August, 1863, a man 
who said he belonged to a certain regiment of Illinois 
Infantry becaine very familiar ; and as he was a sort 
of engaging person, he rarely failed to secure a pass 
from me when the favor was in my discretion. I do 
not now retnember what it was that particularly 
aroused my sus])icions that all was not right with liim. 
but they were aroused about the time mentioned, lie 
always had plenty of money, and ap})arently wnnted 
for nothing but complete liberty. Finally I hit u})()n 
a plan that was immediately successful, and I declined 
to issue a, pass to him. I pleaded as my excuse (he 
standing order in relation to the amount issuable and 
the risk I ran in ovcrste])ping tiie limit prescribed. 
This was an obstacle to his going to 8t. Louis, ;ind 
forced his secret. He used his occupation of a soldier 
as a cloak or cover for the business he was really en- 
gaged in. That was the '''shovin;^r" or ])assing of 
counterfeit money. He then got the re(|uired pnss. 
As soon as he was gone I consulted with my su])erior, 
and proper measures were concocted to meet the emer- 
gency. Under instructions from Mr. Currier, I went 
with the soldier into the city, among his companions 
there and through their haunts. By some means or 
other the head of the gang (for there was quite a 
number of them) succeeded in eluding the officers of 
the law set upon his track. It was said at the time 
that the detectives in the service of the Government, 
or at least some of them, were in collusion with the 
rogues. However, the business was broken up for a 



OFF ON' A KruLorciir. 1G5 

time. I mention this circiiiHstatn'e nioi'c pjirticularly 
becjiuse during the time 1 phived a-inuleur detective I 
8;i\v more devilment th:in I had during niy wliole pre- 
vious life. 

-4. On the 1st (»f S''[U('niher 1 received a furlough or 
leave of ahseuce for fifteen days, and upon that I pro- 
ceeded to Loda. Illinois, and there passed the ensuing 
two weeks. It was a remarkabl}^' ]ileasant season of 
the year, and I rememher to this time that day suc- 
ceeded day in a round of interest. Up to that time 
the farmers of that section had been kept comi)ara- 
tively poor. Corn was dirt cheap, and in some in- 
stances actually nsed as fuel ; but during that year the 
people had sown flax seed and had realized enormous 
profits, owing to the great demand and price paid for 
the product f(»r hospital purposes. The farmers had 
a,lso cultivated sorgluim or Chinese sugar cane, and 
that Irid yielded immensely — ^o much so that the re- 
sources of the country were taxed to their utmost for 
casks t($ put the syrup in, and still it fetched a high 
]n-ice per gnlhus. In this way the country folk were 
paid f(>r the two or three previous years of liard times, 
iuu\ they were all cheerful and happy in so far as ma- 
terial prosi)erity was concerned. All this contributed 
in a gi'eat degree to enal)le me to accomplish my ob- 
ject, which was to have a- pleasant time and relaxation 
from the routine of my duties at Benton Barracks. 

During the early autumn of 1863 the political af- 
fairs of the State of Missouri were, to put it mildly, 
in a very bad way. Governor Gamble presided at Jef- 
ferson City, the capital of the State, and he was thor- 
onghly hated and despised by what was designated 



166 XAKKATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

the "loyal ''elem en tof tlie people of tlie State, while be 
was upheld or defended by tbose wlio were of contrary 
affiliations. Tliere was an election approaching, and 
ofreat excitement ensued. Politics eno-rossed the at- 
tention of the citizens to tbe exclusion of almost 
every other topic. Street corners, churches, ])ublic 
halls, markets, and even our military camps were tbe 
scenes of wordy warfare. The severe measures of 
General Curtis early in tbe year bad taugbt tbe 
would-be outspoken sym[)a,tbizers witb tbe South a 
lesson tbat tbey bad not forgotten. Alton Peniten- 
tiary was not far away, Gratiot street Prison was at 
band, confiscation laws wei'e in force, and above all it 
was easy for declared rebels to be transported into tbe 
Southern lines. So far as tbe opposition dai'ed to go, 
tbey went. I remember listening to a, s|)eecb of tbe 
celebrated patriot and Union man. General "Jim 
Lane," of "Kansas Jaybawker "fame. He was a l\ad- 
ical of tbe Radicals. lie breatbed deatb, contisca- 
tion, banishment for Rebels in evei'v sentence, and be 
was not left without sup})()rt — his words were received 
witb tumultuous ai)plause. lie was rei)lied to by Gen- 
eral Fi-ank P. Blair, Jr., wdio even at tbat time bad 
so changed his views from what they bad been during 
tbe earlier stages of tbe war, as to be called a " Co})- 
perhead." Jefferson City was at that time in })art 
protected by a regiment of the Missouri State ^Militia 
(the First Regiment). There were two kinds of mili- 
tia in the State — tbe Missouri State Militia and the 
Enrolled Missouri Militia — and tbe greatest confu- 
sion was caused by that circumstance. The prime 
distinction between the two sorts was found m the na- 



MISSOURI ''m. s. m/s" and '* h. m. m.'s." Km 

tnre of the sentiments tliev lield toward the Federal 
Cjovernnient and the ideas they entertained in regard 
to States rights, es[>eeially tlie riglits of the State of 
Missouri. The first mentioned were intensely loyal to 
the Union of tiie 8tiires. What tlie othei-s were may 
be inferred, hut I cannot undertake to descrihe them 
any further than hy saying that each sort was at 
tlie throats of the other on the slightest provocation. 
Wiien '* Jim Lane's" speech reached the capital the 
loyal M. S. M.'s hecame wildly enthusiastic, and the 
men of it there only ceased to cheer and roar over it 
when they had denounced the Governor at his own 
door. On this many of the militiamen wore thrown 
into prison, but the rest of them rallied, carried tlie 
prison house by storm, and released their comrades. 
^'This was altogether too radical," said Cajitain 
Barnes to me, •■'and the consequence is that the regi- 
ment has been scattered — two companies on the Iron 
Mountain Railroad, two on the Pacific Railroad, and 
two more here." Several of the officers of the jvgi- 
nient were even then under arrest for aiding and ahet- 
(inii- the men in the commission of whatever the of- 
fence was tliat was laid to them. 

About the last of October w^e received news that 
went to confirni previous rumors to the effect that a 
soldier named Roberts, of the First Nebraska Volun- 
teer Infantry, was to be executed at our post for deser- 
tion and felony. The anticipation of the event gave 
rise to a great deal of speculation, but it never came 
off, at least during my time, id though the sentence 
had been regularly approved by the highest authority. 
When I first arrived at Benton Barracks the place con- 



168 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

tained a large mimber of men, and these we organized 
into companies and battalions. Under the rules and 
regulations governing the army, each company was 
entitled to a certain quota of women as laundresses. 
In times of tranquillity these women are wives of sol- 
diers, but in our camp it was otherwise, except in a 
very few instances. Whether or no, when men were 
exchanged and ordered to tlie field it was altogether 
out of tlie question to think of sending the women 
with tliem, so that wlien tlie camp was de])leted of 
soldiers there remained a large number of these women. 
and their })resence within the lines soon develo})ed into 
a nuisance. Being attached to no regularly mustered 
compjiny, they could draw no rations, and therefore it 
is easy to see that no matter how tliey obtained tlie 
means of living, it was certainly acquired in an irreg- 
ular manner. They retained their old quarters, and 
from thence the unfortunate creatures sallied forth as 
foragers. Nothing was safe from depredation : the 
commissary depot was robbed, the wood piles were 
raided u})on, and the stores of the "village" wei-e 
burglarized. It required a strong effort, but finally 
they were all extiri)ated, almost literally at the })oint 
of the bayonet. Cai)tain Fillebrown, the commander 
of our Provost Guard, did the work in a very ''gal- 
lant" but at the same time elfectual manner. Then 
the women swarmed into the buildings attached to 
the General Ilosjiital. They were not allowed to rest 
long, however, before the Hospital folks chased them 
from one building to another until what were left of 
the unlucky women were all congregated in a shanty 
adjoining the dead-house. The enemy were finally 



small-pox: — A SAD STOKY. l()0 

driven out of this last resort hy a striituoem. Hospi- 
tal Steward Ferris procured a couple of devil-may-care 
fellows, who allowed theniselve.>< to be publicly carried 
into the dead-house, and in sucli a manner as insured 
the fact that at least some of the obnoxious women 
could not fail to see them go in. At midnight the 
women were startled hy the sounds of the supposed 
dead men groaning and raving as they reached their 
ears through the thin walls of the house. The 
friirhtened creatures lost no time in arriving at the 
t'onclusion that the devil was there in })erson, and 
they hastily quitted their last refuge, and left the 
})recincts of the hospital for a less haunted neighbor- 
hood. From that time the whole post was com})ara- 
tively clear of the unwelcome ''laundresses." 

During the late summer and early autumn the 
scourge of small-pox raged fearfully in the General 
Hospital, and a great many died before they could be 
transported to ** IJloody Island," in the Mississi})pi 
river, where a sort of exclusively sniall-pox hospital 
had been established. All t'le people around us were 
in o-reat fear of the contaiiion. What was most sad was 
the carelessness exhibited in providing against danger. 
There were many young women who had volunteered 
to serve, and were serving as nurses in the hospital. 
Before entering upon the service it was required, as a 
precautionary measure, that they, in common with all 
others, should submit to the operation of being vac- 
cinated. On the face of it this was a very good and 
proper regulation, but unfortunately sufficient care 
was not exercised in the selection of the vaccine mat- 
ter used, and many persons fell as victims. Those 



170 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

who did not contract the dread disease were but little 
better oft than those who did. I remember the case 
of one yonng woman wiio had been beautiful; she be- 
longed, too, to a highly respectable family in the city 
of Saint Louis, and it was nothing but genuine patri- 
otism that h id impelled her to assume the duties of 
hospital nurse. They vaccinated her as they did the 
rest, but alas ! tl.ie agent was indeed poisonous. It 
was charged with the seeds of the most horrible dis- 
e;ise. In a short time she got to ))e a most pitiful ob- 
ject. Her breasts dropped oif, and then death relieved 
her from a miserable existence. Others got oft' with 
no less tiian withered arms, an 1 ugly scrofuh)Us mni'ks. 
Al)out the first of August there were at our camp 
five com[)anies of the Eleventh Missouri Cavalry Vol- 
unteers, and three com[)inies of the Eleventh Oliio 
Cavalry Volunteers, and a portion of the Second 
Regiment Missouri Heavy Artillery, besides a, Provo<t 
Guard of one company of the Ninth Regiment \V],<- 
consin Infantry Volunteers. The t'lree companies of 
the Ekn-enth Ohio Cavalry were on the w;iy to the 
Rocky mountains to do duty in that region in protect- 
ing emigrant trains from the depredations of the In- 
dians. One company was almost entirely recruited from 
deserters from the free-lance John Morgan's forces, and 
the other two companies were composed mostly of l)oys. 
The regiment had p;irtici})ated in the run through 
Ohio after General Morgan, and the deserters had been 
glad to better their condition by taking service on our 
side. I became ac'i'i.i'M^cd with Sergeant Sherlock, of 
Company ^^ E " of this regiment, and also with Ser- 
geant-Major Lewis. The latter had already seen 



MORE AUOIT MrS.SOlKI TIDOI'S. 171 

service, having been nu otlicei- at the hntlle of Stone 
river, and captnrcd, jis 1 wns, at that hat tie. He was 
thereafter honorably (lisehai;ae(l. and had now re- 
entered the se]-\ ice as a veteran. If my memory serves 
me well, he told me that he was of the immediate 
party that captured the guerilla (ieneial ^lorgan. 
At home the 8ergeant was a lawyer, and as he exi)ect- 
ed to be stationed for a long time in some comfortable 
quarters at a frontier foi-t, he had provided himself 
with a well selected library. The companies departed 
for the West on the 10th of August. The Second 
Missouri Heavy Artillery was a xevy poor si)ecimen of 
a reo-iment. There was no discii)line whatever in it — 
no regularity at all, except indeed in the drawing of 
rations and in being irregular in almost everything 
else. The whole regiment was soon afterward mus- 
tered out of the service. The Eleventh Missouri 
Cavalrv was also a .«orry conditioned oj-ganization. It 
*vas commanded by Colonel \V. J). Wood, who, it was 
represented, was a near relati^e of (iovernor (i amble. 
Many of the officers and men had figured <m the 
wrong side at the ca})ture of ('amp Jackson in 18G1, 
and although the i-egiment had existed as an organiza- 
tion for three quarters of a year, it had as yet seen no 
field service. Altogether the regiment was not liked 
by any of us, and it was often subjected to treatment 
as if it was n<jt to be trusted. There must have been 
something radically wrong from the Ijeginning with 
Missouri. It seems so singular that she should have 
had such good, brave, and gallant soldiers away from 
home on either side of the conflict, and such misera- 
ble defenders within her bordei's. It was a common 



172 XAKUATIVK OF A riJlVATE SOLDIEK. 

remark that the best men of Missouri were with 
''Pap Price,'' and the second best gone "to figiit mit 
Siegel." 

5. About the niicUlle of August I received instruc- 
tions to try mv liiind. or mther niv tonaue. ;it sellino- 
by auction. 80 many soldiers liad died at the Gene- 
ral Hosi)ital. or deserted and left their effects behiiul 
them, that the latter had accumulated until several 
rooms were tilled with an assortment of personal pi'oji- 
erty. AVhatever bore marks of identiticjition weie to 
be sent, if of value, to whoever might claim them, 
and one day the i-emainder was hauled out under the 
trees and got ready for dis})osal. Having moun red a 
wagon placed thei'c for the ])ui-[)()se, 1 made a s];ee('h 
to tlie motley throng tluit liad now gathered aiound 
me to the effect generally that, ** l)y direction of a 
Council of x\dministration of the post of Benton Bai-- 
]"acks, near Saint Louis, Missoui-i, duly a])])ointed bv 
conijietent autho]-ity, I would proceed to sell l)y ])ub- 
lic auction to the highest bidder, for cash." ihe mis- 
cellaneous stuff' by which I was surrounded. The 
sale was prolonged for three or four hours, and si ill 
the auctioneer's voice was heard. The bidding Avas 
si)irited, but the prices realized were anything but 
*' war prices." In the lots were all sorts of pocket 
property, from portfolios to metallic match-boxes. 
All diaries, portfolios, and such like articles were re- 
served from the sale, and of such things I had a sack- 
ful when the auction was over. Tiiese, witli the cash 
in-oceeds of the sale, were turned over to Lieutenant 
A. J. Newby, the President of the Post Council of 
Administration. We had sereral Courts Martial in 



A FIE\A) OFFK r;K S ('OIKT MARTIAL. l7o 

session during my stny at l^entou J^urracks. One was 
a "Field Officer's Court Martial." and was held by 
Lieutenant Colonel Oraliani. of the TAventy-second 
Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry. This court had 
little else to do hut make a show of trying tlie paroled 
men who had failed to report in due time at Benton 
Barracks. The President's i)i-oclamation in regard to 
absentees had gone forth, and the grace of that docu- 
ment had expired, and, as the Colonel used to say 
with a ver}' long face, ** every soldier knows the pen- 
alty for desertion.'' It was very laughable and at 
times interesting to listen to the various excuses of 
the soldiers as they came up one after another to 
plead to the charge of "Absence without leave" pre- 
ferred ji^ainst them. One man, scarce twenty-three 
years of age, swore that he had a wife and six chil- 
dren ; that his wife was sick of an ague, the two 
younger children down with the small-pox, the eldest 
insane, and the rest starving, and, perhaps the only 
grain of truth in his story, he had received no ])ay for 
twelve months. Another set eve>T one in the room 
in a roar by alleging that he had made a bet with a 
comrade that he could go home and in ten days be- 
come the husband of that comi'ade's affianced bride. 
"And I did it too, Judge." This was enough, and 
even the Colonel lost his proper gravity, and was com- 
pelled to join in the roars of laughter that ensued. 
The dignity of judicial proceedings, ho^vever, was 
soon restored by the next case. It was that of a 
plain, common-looking man, who said substantially 
that he h^id received a letter informing him of the se- 
rious illness of his wife ; that he had used every en- 



174 NAKKATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

deavor to obtain a fnrlongh witliout success, and had 
only left the camp in a des})erate mood, without real- 
izing the enormity of his crime ; th;it even then he 
had not arrived nt his wretclied liome in time to be 
there iit the deatli. Tiie few days since lie liad been 
engaged in placing liis or])]iMned children where they 
could be cared for. 'I'lie poor fellow's weeping 
acted as a magnet, and when he was through 
with his story there Avere but few dry eyes in 
the Court room. A little Frenchman l)elonoiiio- t() 
the Second Missouri Artillery Reserves pleaded 
that his regiment had been mustered out of ser- 
vice by order of the President. But he Avas mis- 
taken, and his trial Avent on. There Avas great fun in 
this case, and in the absence of an inter])reter Colonel 
Graham Avas kei)t busy in consulting a French and 
English Dictionary. There Avas great anxiety mani- 
fested by the paroled men to have their cases finally 
disposed of before the end of the month, which was 
a day for mustering for pay. Most of tiicni had a 
year's pay due to them, and many had eighteen moiiths' 
coming to them, and as the punishment was usually a 
fine of a greater or less amount, there Avere but fcAv 
Avho could not afford the penalty. We also had a 
*' General Court Martial" in session. This Avas a 
more im])osing affair, a more august tribunal, having 
the jurisdiction of ji Court of Oyer and Terminer 
Avhen compared Avith that of a Field Officer's Court 
Martial, Avhich latter may be likened to a Court of 
Special Sessions. The Genend Court Martial Avas 
made up of some half dozen Field Officers, and had a 
Captain (W. F. Dewey) for Judge Advocate oi* Prose- 



A GEXEKAL COUllT MARTIAL — BKIEN'S CASE. 175 

ciitor. The Court held its sessions in the room over 
our offices, and in which I and other of the clerks 
slei3t. I Avas a sort of scribe for this Court, and fre- 
quently took down the testimony in short hand. One 
of the most imi:)ortant cases tried by this Court was 
that of Private Mike O'Brien, of the First U. S. In- 
fantry. Mike had already served one complete term 
of five years, and this his second term Avould expire 
on the 18th of August, 1863. He had been a sort of 
privileged character at the post. He and his wife 
lived in a neat little house all by themselves, and 
shared with the post sutler in a little monopoly. His 
regular duties consisted in acting as orderly and gene- 
ral factotum to the Colonel ; at least that is all I ever 
knew him to do in the Avay of service. Mike w^as 
every inch a soldier, not excepting the bad qualities 
so often found in veterans. He would sometimes get 
drunk — very drunk — and tlien there w\as the devil to 
pay with him. For a comparatively long time he had 
manfully withstood all temptation that way, and had 
saved money in anticipation of his discharge. He 
iiad even opened negotiations with old man Stewart, 
on Salisbury street, for the purchase of a groggery, 
when, alas I in an unfortunate moment Mike fell in 
with a former comrade, Avho, having received a com- 
mission in the Volunteer service, was sporting his 
gold lace and broadcloth in the city. Mike was be- 
coming envious, and when the two had talked over 
the matter, it was determined that Mike had not suc- 
ceeded so well as his friend because he had been 
liandicapped with a wife I He was full of this unfit 
he got drunk, when he began the Avork of remedvino- 



176 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

the evil by trying to kill the heavy tail to his kite. 
But his wife got the better of him, and instead of do- 
ing with her as his mad passion jororiipted, she pitched 
her husband out of the wagon in which they were 
riding home, and left him sprawling in the gutter, a 
prey to the snares of the Provost Guard. She had 
not been long in camp, however, before her master ar- 
rived too, and he lost no time in undertaking to finish 
the job he had so inauspiciously begun. He would 
probably have succeeded this time had not the uproar 
attracted the attention of the Post Provost Guard. 
^^Two men and a Corporal "came, but Mike displayed 
a huge navy revolver and gave out the direst threats 
against ^' the head of the galloot " who attempted to 
arrest him. The guard prudently procured reinforce- 
ments, and then the combined powers moved on the 
belligerent Mike, and finally, after almost a regular 
siege, succeeded in arresting him, but not before he 
had fired two shots, and made three missfires. All 
this occurred on the 10th of August, and when he had 
only a week or so more to serve. On the day upon 
which his term of service expired he was tried by 
General Court Martial and sentenced to perform six 
months' hard labor " in such place as the Commanding- 
General of the Department should select." The sen- 
tence was approved by the District Commander on the 
28th of August, but I do not remember whether 
O'Brien served out the term or the i^roceedings were 
disapproved by the Department Commander ; the lat- 
ter, I think, was most probably the case. 

6. Early in the month of October, 18G3, the Gov- 
ernment established in our camp a depot of the West- 



THE WESTERN CAVALRY BUREAU. 177 

ern Cavalry Bureau, having Colonel Hatch (of the 
Second Michigan Cavalry Volunteers) as chief. It 
must be remembered that while the Government Avas 
anxious to purchase all the serviceable horses it could, 
it was at the same time equally desirous of getting rid 
of such as were past being of service ; so that about 
the 1st of November several large recuperating hospi- 
tals for horses and mules were established. There 
wa-s a very large one at the northerly side of our camp, 
and there was a very extensive one on or near to 
Franklin Avenue, nearer the city. To these hospitals 
the animals of Grierson and other raiders were con- 
yeved after their hard ridings in the South. The 
Government sold at public auction every Friday 
such of the animals as had been condemned during 
the preceding week as unfit for further use, and 
bought new horses every day, so as to fill the requi- 
sitions constantly received from the field. Tliis busi- 
ness presented a fine scope for plundering the Govern- 
ment, and it was taken advantage of to a great extent. 
The charge was openly made that the officers entrust- 
ed with the duty of inspection had condemned many 
good horses, which on the day of sale were sold at 
prices ranging from thirty-seven cents to five dollars 
a head. In a few days thereafter, the purchaser of 
such animals, in collusion with the purchasing offi- 
cers of the Government, so it was said, again sold 
them to the public service, and at the immense 
prices prevailing at the time. I do not remember 
whether anything was ever done about the fraud, 
but I do know that it was the talk of the camp for 
some time. AVe did not have the gallant Lieutenant 



178 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

Brossean for our Post Adjutiint for any great length of 
time. He was called to the field during the summer, 
where he received well merited promotion in his regi- 
ment. Ho was succeeded hy Lieutenant Philander 
Lucas, a great, overgrown son of the fat prairies. 
He was from Jacksonville, Illinois, had been an under 
teacher in the institute of learning at that place, and 
was captured by the Eebel General Van Dorn, at 
Holly Springs, Mississippi. He was a lawyer by pro- 
fession, and had with him quite a res^jectable library. 
It was said by those who did not like him that he was 
badgered back to the field by his fellow officers. At 
any rate, he went, and was succeeded by Lieutenant 
D. 0. Reid, of Company ^'H" of the Forty-fifth regi- 
ment of Infantry Illinois Volunteers. Lieutenant 
Pieid was a small but well formed and attractive man. 
He had an intellectual countenance, and was altogeth- 
er a very clever, active officer. He had a dark, 
placid countenance, and that was made more striking 
by a heavy black moustache and chin whiskers. The 
Lieutenant had been in the service since June, 1861, 
was wounded in the second assault on the enemy's 
works in front of Vicksburg the summer before, had 
been taken prisoner and cruelly treated by his captors, 
and on his final parole became a guest of Benton Bar- 
racks. While with us he expected to receive promo- 
tion and join the Colored Troops, but my impression is 
that he got tired of waiting, or disgusted with that 
branch of the service, and went to his regiment in the 
field. He was a native of some part of Pennsylvania, 
but had emigrated many years before to Galesburg (I 
think), in Illinois. 



A '^ spree" — THE CALITHUMPIAXS. 179 

Whatever may be said of the previous cliapters of 
this my narrative by those who may read them, I can 
say of this last one that I find myself severely taxed 
to find incidents enough to make it seem interesting. 
There is no change of scene or battle to describe. 
This whole chapter is altogether different from what 
would reasonably be expected of a soldier. To me it 
reads rather of doings of a boy off for a holiday, and I 
am almost ashamed to place it beside the more stirring- 
portion of my narrative. Of course we were all in- 
tensely interested in the events of the war as they 
happened, but anything I might say here would be at 
second hand and certainly out of place. My only 
excuse is that my life at Benton Barracks was includ- 
ed in my term of service as a private soldier, and 
therefore must be told in some way. We had many 
"sprees" while at the post, but they are hardly 
deemed w^ortli mentioning except perhaps one as a 
sample. This was on the occasion of the marriage of 
a relative of Captain Guerin to a young man named 
Gostin. About the latter part of August we heard 
that the newly wedded pair were in the Captain's 
house on Salisbury street, just outside the Barracks. 
Along toward midnight the Post Band, with their 
regulation instruments of fifes and drums, and carry- 
ing besides a lot of other noise producers, such as 
gongs, bells, tin pans, and an array of bugles, filed out 
of the main gate. With the rest, I went to see the fun. 
When we reached the front of the house wherein the 
bride and bridegroom were, the Post Band performed 
a very creditable piece by way of serenade. This was 
succeeded by John Munson, our mail wagon driver, 



180 XAKRATIYE OF A PUIYATE SOLDIER. 

giving the command sometliiiig like this: '* Attention^ 
Calithnmpiuns I Music hy the Calitlinmpians ! One 
— two — three I'' And then there was such a din as 
never was heard. People in their night clothes threw 
up the neighboring windows and peered out on the 
scene, an army of dogs howled, and general pandemo- 
nium reigned. At a certain other signal the noise 
ceased, and the Post Band gave another respectable 
2)erformance. By this time the folks within had be- 
come well acquainted with our jiresence, and the jolly 
Captain appeared and made a jolly speech. At his 
invitation we entered the house and were received by 
those we had intended to honor. Eating and drink- 
ing began immediately. Tliere were root beer and 
soda water for the temperate and youthful, lager beer 
for the more experienced, and whiskey for the old 
stagers, and these were all indulged in, until before 
long the men were in fine condition and the best of 
humor for sj^eeches, songs, and rough dancing. Each 
song was honored with at least one encore, and each 
sentence of a speech was uproariously apj^lauded. So 
many speeches were made that at last there was a 
dearth of subjects. By and by, when the resources 
of the family had nearly ceased to supply the demand 
for food and drink, the landlord of the house, a man 
named Speckermann, came into the company and 
made u speech, the best part of which was the perora- 
tion. It consisted of an appeal to us that we would 
honor him with our company in his grocery store on 
the opposite side of the street. This honor was 
quickly conferred uj^on him, and all but the ladies 
went over to the j^hice. There was more guzzling. 



DRUMMED OUT OF SERVICE. 181 

smoking, "speechifying" until three o'clock in the 
morning, wiien we left the scene for camp. The 
bridegroom afterward ])ecame the proprietor of the 
photograph gallery at our j^ost. 

7. About the first week of November (on a Satur- 
day) an incident ha2")pened in our camp the like of 
Avliich I had not seen before. It was the formal dis- 
honoi'able discharge of a soldier. The first intimation 
I got of the affair came from Colonel Wood, of the 
Eleventh Missouri Cavalry, who requested that the 
Post Band be placed at his disposal for one hour or 
so. The band was of course ordered to report for 
duty immediatel}^, in full uniform and instruments, 
at the Colonel's headquarters. AVith the rest, I went 
to the regimental parade ground to see the sight. 
After some delay, the regiment was formed into line 
as for review, and the culprit conducted to the front 
and centre. Then the Adjutant read all the orders 
relating to the case, and handed the soldier his dis- 
honorable discharge from the service. The prisoner 
was deprived of his hat, and a ready barber quickly 
mutilated his hair, and the same functionary also 
stripped the prisoner's clothes of all buttons and other 
ornaments. Thus prepared, the command received 
the order, "Draw sabres," and the unfortunate man 
was marched along the line in advance of the band, 
which all the while played the "Rogue's March." 
He was kept from going too fast by a sort of mock es- 
cort which accompanied him, but at the left of the 
line the duty of the guard ceased, and the poor fellow 
made a good start, and was off like a shot, out of sight 
and out of the main gate. He did not wait to hear 



182 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

tlie gibes and laughter of his late comrades. I was 
inclined to believe that the prisoner did not allow the 
disgrace to affect him very much, for when he passed 
me I thouglit I detected a sort of satisfied smile upon 
his face. 

During the summer of 1863 the Government first 
began to utilize the recently emancipated slaves by 
making soldiers of them. The use of negroes for 
such a purpose was somewhat hastened by the diffi- 
culty experienced by some of the Eastern States in 
filling their several quotas of troops. Thus it came 
about that a New York regiment was recruited in 
Louisiana from the freedmen there ; a Massachusetts 
regiment was built up in Missouri and Kansas, and a 
"good, likely negro" fetched a price as a substitute 
nearly equal to that he would have brought in ante- 
bellum times. General Lorenzo Thomas, the Adjut- 
ant General of the Army, had been to the South and 
South-west, and seemed to be possessed of great power 
in the premises. Boards of examination were ap- 
pointed, and invitations sent out to both officers and 
men of the army, as well as to outsiders, to present 
themselves for examination and appointment to office 
in the new element. At Saint Louis there was such 
a Board, presided over by Colonel Daniel Huston, 
Seventh Cavalry Missouri Volunteers. Even before 
cold weather set in our barracks became a rendezvous 
for the organization of Colored Troops, and nearly 
every one of the minor officers and the staff clerks at 
Headquarters had made the projDcr application and 
obtained the necessary permission to appear before 
the Board for examination. Then Colonel William 



OKGANIZATION OF COLORED TROOPS. 183 

A. Pile, wlio bad succeeded Clinton B. Fiske as Colo- 
nel of the Thirty- third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, 
both of whom were known as "fighting parsons," 
appeared and took charge of the organization of the 
Colored Troojis in and near Saint Louis, with head- 
quarters at Benton Barracks. It was not until I was 
left almost entirely alone of my old fellow clerks that 
I made the necessary application and received the let- 
ter permitting me to appear before the Board for ex- 
amination. On the 1st of December I presented my- 
self, and at the conclusion of the medical and surgical 
examination I had reason to feel glad that I had 
done as I had, even if I failed to obtain the 
promotion. Ever since my release from captiv- 
ity I had been tortured by the thought that 
perhaps my sufferings and the exposure had left 
something behind that might appear upon j)rovocation, 
so I had been very careful not to expose myself un- 
necessarily to the vicissitudes of hard labor or the in- 
clemency of the weather ; but now the rough, thor- 
ough-going, typical 'Mjrute" of a surgeon, after 
making a searching investigation from toe nail to the 
to]:) hair of my head, not only passed me as " approved, " 
but complimented me somewhat on the soundness of 
my condition. In due time I passed into the dread 
presence of the Board. There had been many terrify- 
ing reports afloat in relation to this Board. It had 
been represented as especially severe and merciless, 
but of course no one could know what took place 
when others than himself were j^resent. Stories were 
told of men of age and pretensions who had failed 
correctly to answer whether our Saviour lived before 



184 NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

or after Mahomet ; otliers did not know the difference 
between a simple equation and the multiplication of 
common fractions. Whatever truth there may have 
been in these stories, it is nevertheless the fact that 
many applicants were disappointed. Field officers of 
volunteers were recommended for promotion (?) as 
Second Lieutenants in the new forces, and althouo-h 
there were three distinct classes of each grade, many 
failed to pass at all. Of my examination I can only 
say that, with the exception of that part requiring the 
possession of technical knowledge of military affairs, 
it was something like a very searching examination of 
advanced students in a good school of the lower 
academic class, and during which the best read of men 
w^ould be apt to fail occasionally, unless aided by a 
good memory. Mine served me well throughout the 
whole ordeal, and in a few days I was gazetted as hav- 
ing passed and been recommended for appointment. 
Immediately after this I was ordered to report to Col- 
onel Pile, and I assumed full under-charge of his 
office as his Acting Assistant Adjutant General. On 
the 29th day of December, 1863, I received an official 
copy of an extract from Special Orders from the De- 
partment of the Missouri, dated the day before, by 
which I was discharged the service of the United 
States as Private Company ''B," Eighty-eighth Regi- 
ment Illinois Volunteers, and I thereupon ceased to 
be an enlisted man in the army. I had been a soldier 
in all only about seventeen months, and on looking 
back over my story I find that although it is not alto- 
gether devoid of incident, still I am sure it cannot 
possibly be so interesting as the story, if told, of 



DISCHARGED. 185 

many a man whose service brought him into many 
more encounters, more difficulties, and during which 
he was exposed to many more dangers. It will be a 
pity if there are not many of such who will yet 
do as I have done, save my manifold sins of omission 
and commission, my faults in style and manner of ex- 
pression, and thus hand down to their heirs that 
which will, as I said in my preface, enable them to 
have something beyond mere tradition to point to 
when discussing the experiences of a private soldier 
in the Great American Civil War. 



